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Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I: Grains
Board on Science and Technology for International
Development, Office of International Affairs, National
Research Council
Lost
LostLost
Lost
Crops
CropsCrops
Crops
of
ofof
of
Africa
AfricaAfrica
Africa
volume I
Grains
Board on Science and Technology for International Development
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1996
i
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of
the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National
Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The
members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competence and
with regard for appropriate balance.
The report was reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved
by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This report was prepared by an ad hoc advisory panel of the Board on Science and Technology
for International Development, Office of International Affairs, National Research Council. Staff
support was funded by the Bureau for Africa, Bureau for Research and Development, Office of
Nutrition, and Office of Research, Agency for International Development, under Grant No.
DPE-5545-A-00-8068-00.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-86876
ISBN 0-309-04990-3
This document may be reproduced solely for educational purposes without the written permission of
the National Academy of Sciences.
Copyright 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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A NOTE FROM THE SPONSORS
For two decades, the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID)
has supported various reports from BOSTID's Innovation Program. This
current one, on the under exploited cereals of Africa, is particularly timely.
Africa's nutrition situation is deteriorating, and this is a serious concern.
Much of the population is more vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation
than ever before. Clearly, the problem needs tangible and sustained
support from the international community, but it also needs a host of fresh
ideas.
This book offers many such ideas and is part of a commitment AID
made at the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN) in December 1992.
There, member countries, nongovernmental organizations, and the
international community pledged to eliminate or substantially reduce
starvation, widespread undernutrition, and micronutrient malnutrition within
this decade.
By highlighting the broad potential for Africa's own native biodiversity to
reduce the vulnerability of seriously at-risk people to food shortages, the
book could become a major contributor to the ICN objectives. The so-called
"lost crops" obviously can help provide food security in their native areas,
which include many parts of Africa threatened with hunger. At the same
time, however, maintaining the diversity of these ancient crops will protect
options for the rest of the world to use.
For these and other reasons, we are pleased to have been this
project's major sponsors. We hope the wealth of information in the following
pages will stimulate much interest and many subsequent activities. If that
occurs, the now largely overlooked resources described herein should
contribute substantially toward achieving the goal of eliminating hunger and
malnutrition by decade's end.
DAVID A. OOT
OFFICE OF HEALTH AND NUTRITION
JOHN HICKS
BUREAU FOR AFRICA
NAN BORTON
OFFICE OF FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE
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PANEL
NORMAN E. BORLAUG, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y
Trigo, Mexico City, Mexico, Chairman
JOHN AXTELL, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
Indiana
GLENN W. BURTON, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Agricultural
Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tifton, Georgia
JACK R. HARLAN, Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois (retired),
New Orleans, Louisiana
KENNETH O. RACHIE, Winrock International (retired), Pensacola, Florida
***
NOEL D. VIETMEYER, Senior Program Officer, Board on Science and
Technology for International Development, Africa Crops Study Director and
Scientific Editor
STAFF
F.R. RUSKIN, BOSTID Editor
MARK R. DAFFORN, Staff Associate
ELIZABETH MOUZON, Senior Secretary
BRENT SIMPSON, MUCIA Intern
DONALD OSBORN, MUCIA Intern
MICHAEL McD. Dow, Acting Director, BOSTID
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Contributors
By 1993, more than 1,000 people had participated in BOSTID's overall study
of the lost crops of Africa. Most had participated by nominating species of
grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, legumes, oilseeds, spices, sweeteners, and
beverage plants worthy of inclusion. In a sense, all these people were contributors
to this, the first product from the study. However, the following list includes only
those who provided technical details that became incorporated into various
chapters of this particular book. To all the contributors, both listed and unlisted,
we are truly grateful.
AFRICA
SAMUEL AGBOIRE, National Cereals Research Institute, Bida, Niger State,
Nigeria
OLUPOMI AJAYI, ICRISAT-WASIP, Kano, Nigeria
O.C. AWORH, Department of Food Technology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
Nigeria
FORSON K. AYENSU, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Crops Research Institute,
Bunso, Ghana
JACOB A. AYUK-TAKEM, Institut de la Recherche Agronomique, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
ROBERT CUDJOE AZIAWOR, Grains Development Board, Hohoe, Volta
Region, Ghana
PAUL BECKMAN, Eden Foundation, Zinder, Niger
M.A. BENHURA, Department of Biochemistry, University of Zimbabwe,
Harare, Zimbabwe
JACQUES BEYO, Institut de Recherche Agronomique, Maroua, Cameroon
STEPHEN CARR, Zomba, Malawi
CARL W. CASTLETON, International Section, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
ABEBE DEMISSIE, Plant Germplasm Exploration and Collection, Plant Genetic
Resources Centre/Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
SUSAN BURNELL EDWARDS, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
TEWOLDE BERHAN G/EGZIABHER, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
SAHR N. FOMBA, Mangrove Swamp Rice Research Station, West Africa Rice
Development Association, Freetown, Sierra Leone
WALTER FROLICH, Sorghum and Millet Section, Nyankpala Agricultural
Experiment Station, Crops Research Institute, Tamale, Ghana
CONTRIBUTORS vi
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KIFLE GOZEGUZE, Regional Soil and Water Conservation Department,
Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
S.C. GUPTA, Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program,
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe
LELAND R. HOUSE, Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program,
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
ISRAEL AFAM JIDEANI, School of Science and Science Education, Abubakar
Tafawa-Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria
TANTIGEGN KEREDE KASSA, Zonal Team in Soil Conservation, Bahrder,
Ethiopia
HILDA KIGUTHA, Department of Home Economics, Egerton University,
Njoro, Kenya
ABEBE KIRUB, Information Services, Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
J. MAUD KORDYLAS, Arkloyd's Food Laboratory, Douala, Cameroon
HELMUT KREIENSIEK, Agriculture and Soil Conservation, German
AgroAction -FSAP, Maseru, Lesotho
K. ANAND KUMAR, Pearl Millet Program, Sahelian Centre, International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Niamey, Niger
Plus MICHAEL KYESMU, Department of Botany, University of Jos, Jos,
Plateau State, Nigeria
JOYCE LOWE, Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria
GUEYE MAMADOU, West African Microbiological Research Centre, Centre
National de Recherches Agronomiques, Bambey, Senegal
FERNANDO A.B. MARCELINO, Instituto de Investigação Agronómica,
Huambo, Angola
P.C.J. MAREE, Department of Agronomy and Pastures, University of
Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Cape Province, South Africa
MATEOS MEGISO, Soil Conservation Department, Ministry of Agriculture,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
GEBRU TEKA MEHERETA, Natural Resources Department, Ministry of
Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
I.M. MHARAPARA, Research and Specialist Services, Chiredzi Research
Station, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe
KOUAMÉ MIEZAN, West Africa Rice Development Association, Bouake, Ivory
Coast
GETACHEW BEYENE MISKER, Community Forestry Department, Ministry of
Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
HELEN Moss, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, University of
Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
CONTRIBUTORS vii
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S.C. NANA-SINKAM, Joint ECA/FAO Agriculture Division, United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
NLANDU NE NSAKU, Direction des Services Généraux Techniques, Gitega,
Burundi
J.C. OBIEFUNA, Department of Crop Production, Federal University of
Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
NORMAN F.G. RETHMAN, Department of Plant Production, University of
Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
GREGORY SAXON, Tete, Mozambique
A. SHAKOOR, The Dryland Farming Research and Development Project,
Ministry of Agriculture, Katumani, Machakos, Kenya
P. SOMAN, Pearl Millet Program, Sahelian Centre, International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Niamey, Niger
P.S. STEYN, Division of Food Science and Technology, National Food Research
Institute, Pretoria, South Africa
JOHN R.N. TAYLOR, Department of Food Science, University of Pretoria,
Pretoria, South Africa
JANE TOLL, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics,
Niamey, Niger
JENS VON BARGEN, Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment Station, Crops
Research Institute, Tamale, Ghana
ADEBACHO WATCHISO, Community Forestry Department, Ministry of
Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
G.K. WEBER, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
J.H. WILLIAMS, Pearl Millet Program, Sahelian Centre, International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Niamey, Niger
OTHER REGIONS
DAVID J. ANDREWS, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
DJIBRIL AW, Resident Mission, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
JACQUES BARRAU, Laboratoire d'Ethnobotanique-Biogéographie, Muséum
National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
J.P. BAUDOIN, Phytotechnie des Régions Chaudes, Faculté des Sciences
Agronomiques de Gembloux, Gembloux, Belgium
DONALD F. BEECH, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
GILLES BEZANÇON, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le
Développement en Coopération de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
PAULA BRAMEL-COX, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, USA
CONTRIBUTORS viii
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FRANK BREYER, Bludenz, Vorarlberg, Austria
RICHARD L. BRUGGERS, International Programs Research Section, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research Center, Denver,
Colorado, USA
LYNNE BRYDON, Department of Sociology, University of Liverpool,
Liverpool, England
WAYNE CARLSON, Maskal Forages, Inc., Caldwell, Idaho, USA
GEOFFREY P. CHAPMAN, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Kent,
England
W. DEREK CLAYTON, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey,
England
MAX D. CLEGG, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
Nebraska, USA
ELIZABETH COLSON, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Berkeley, El Cerrito, California, USA
WILLIAM CRITCHLEY, Centre for Development Cooperation Services, Free
University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
RONNY R. DUNCAN, Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia,
Georgia Experiment Station, Griffin, Georgia, USA
ROBERT P. EAGLESFIELD, International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics, Andhra Pradesh, India
JOHANNES M.M. ENGELS, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute,
New Delhi, India
CONRAD L. EVANS, Office of International Programs, Oklahoma State
University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
CHARLES A. FRANCIS, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
DONALD FRYREAR, Big Spring Experiment Station, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Big Spring, Texas, USA
ZEWDIE WOLDE GEBRIEL, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen
Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands
P. GEERVANI, College of Home Science, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural
University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
DAVID GIBBON, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia,
Norwich, Norfolk, England
HEINER E. GOLDBACH, Abta Agrarökologie, Institut für Geowissenschaften
der Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
PAMELA M. GOODE, Environmental Resources Unit, University of Salford,
Salford, England
DAVID O. HALL, Center for Energy and Environment, Princeton University,
Princeton, New Jersey, USA
WAYNE W. HANNA, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Tifton, Georgia, USA
NAZMUL. HAQ, International Centre for Under-Utilized Crops, King's College
London, London, England
CONTRIBUTORS ix
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G. HARINARAYANA, All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project,
College of Agriculture, Shivajinagar, Pune, India
DALE D. HARPSTEAD, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
FRANK NIGEL HEPPER, The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
Richmond, Surrey, England
KHIDIR W. HILU, Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
R.C. HOSENEY, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, USA
CARL S. HOVELAND, Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia,
Athens, Georgia, USA
CATHERINE HOWARTH, Welsh Plant Breeding Station, University College of
Wales, Old College, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales
CLARISSA T. KIMBER, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas, USA
ART KLATT, Division of Agriculture, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,
Oklahoma, USA
A. DE KOCHKO, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis,
Missouri, USA
WENDY KRAMER, Administrative Librarian, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
J.M. LOCK, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England
DAVID G. LYNN, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago,
Illinois, USA
CLARE MADGE, School of Geography, The University of Birmingham,
Egbaston, Birmingham, England
JAMES D. MAGUIRE, Department of Agronomy and Soils, Washington State
University, Pullman, Washington, USA
A. BRUCE MAUNDER, DeKalb Plant Genetics, Lubbock, Texas, USA
DAN H. MECKENSTOCK, INTSORMIL/Programa Internacional de Sorgo y
Mijo, c/o Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
ALEMU MENGISTU, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
GIOVANNI MIGNONI, Risanamento, Agro Industriale Zuccheri, Roma, Inc.,
Rome, Italy
FRED R. MILLER, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas, USA
NOBUO MURATA, Eco-Physiology Research Division, Tropical Agriculture
Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
K.V. RAMAIAH, International Crops Research Institute for the SemiArid
Tropics, Andhra Pradesh, India
CONTRIBUTORS x
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K.C. REDDY, Agency for International Development - Niamey, U.S.
Department of State, Washington, D.C., USA
PAUL RICHARDS, Department of Anthropology, University College London,
London, England
K.W. RILEY, IDRC/National Hill Crops Improvement Program, Kathmandu,
Nepal
JAMES L. RIOPEL, Department of Biology, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
LLOYD W. ROONEY, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas, USA
RACHEL SAFMAN, Agriculture and Natural Resources, CARE, New York,
New York, USA
DAVID J. SAMMONS, Department of Agronomy, University of Maryland,
College Park, Maryland, USA
SHAO QIQUAN, Department of Crop Science and Plant Ecology, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
BLUEBELL R. STANDAL, Department of Food Science and Nutrition,
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
MARGARET STEENTOFT, Petersfield, Hampshire, England
MICHAEL STOCKING, Soils and Land Use Development Studies, University
of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, England
ROBERT J. THEODORATUS, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State
University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
H.D. TINDALL, Ampthill, Bedford, England
J.H. Topps, Division of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
RICK J. VAN DEN BELDT, Winrock International Institute for Agricultural
Development, Bangkok, Thailand
DAT VAN TRAN, Plant Production and Protection Division, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
PARESH VERMA, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department
of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
REMKO B. VONK, Agriculture and Natural Resources, CARE, New York, New
York, USA
C.E. WEST, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural
University, Wageningen, Netherlands
JOSIEN M.C. WESTPHAL-STEVELS, Department of Plant Taxonomy,
Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands
ERICA F. WHEELER, Centre for Human Nutrition, The London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England
G.E. WICKENS, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England
REBECCA WOOD, Crestone, Colorado, USA
CONTRIBUTORS xi
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Preface
The purpose of this report is to draw worldwide attention to traditional
African cereals and especially to their potential for expanding and diversifying
African and world food supplies. Africa is seen by many observers as a basket
casea vast region incorporating more than 40 nations that appears unlikely to
be able to feed its burgeoning population in the coming years. To many
observers, there seem to be no ready solutions. Some have given up hope that
anything can be done.
What has been almost entirely overlooked, however, is that throughout that
vast continent can be found more than 2,000 native grains, roots, fruits, and other
food plants. These have been feeding people for thousands of years but most are
being given no attention whatever today. We have called them the ''lost crops of
Africa."
Among the 2,000 lost foods are more than 100 native grasses whose seeds
are (or have been) eaten. These can be found from Mauritania to Madagascar.
Only a handful are currently receiving concerted research and development, and
even those few are grossly underappreciated. Our goal is to demonstrate the
potential inherent in these overlooked traditional cereals. Our hope is thereby to
stimulate actions to increase the support for, and use of, the best of them so as to
increase food supplies, improve nutrition, and raise economic conditions.
It should be understood that most of the plants described are not truly lost;
indeed, a few are well known worldwide. It is to the mainstream of international
science and to people outside the rural regions that they are "lost." It should also
be understood that it is not just for Africa that the grains hold promise. Several of
Africa's now neglected cereals could become major contributors to the welfare of
nations around the world. This potential is often emphasized in the following
chapters in hopes of stimulating the world community into serious and self-
interested support for these species that now languish.
PREFACE xiii
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This study began in 1989 when the staff officers mailed questionnaires to
about 1,000 scientists and organizations worldwide. The questionnaire requested
nominations of little-known African food plants for possible inclusion. It
contained a list of 77 native African grains, roots and tubers, vegetables, fruits,
legumes, oilseeds, nuts, spices, sweeteners, and beverage plants. We anticipated
that perhaps 30 of these species would prove to have outstanding merit and that
the report would focus on those. What actually occurred, however, was very
different.
Within a few weeks of mailing the questionnaire, replies started flooding
back in numbers far greater than anticipated; many recipients photocopied their
questionnaire and sent the copies (as many as 50 in several cases) on to their
colleagues; requests came pouring in from people we had never heard of. The
staff could barely keep up with the hundreds of requests, replies, suggestions,
scientific papers, and unsolicited writings that began to appear in the mail. Within
4 months, over 100 additional species had been nominated as "write-in
candidates." Within a year, at least 100 more were recommended. By then it was
clear that the power of this project was far greater than anyone had foreseen. It
was decided, therefore, to divide it into sections dealing individually with the
different types of foods.
This report on the lost grains of Africa is the first in this series. From the
flood of suggestions and information on the native African cereals was fashioned a
first draft. Each of its chapters was mailed back to the original nominators as well
as to other experts identified by the staff. As a result, hundreds of suggestions for
corrections and additions were received, and each was evaluated and integrated
into what, after editing and review, became the current text.
The report is intended as a tool for economic development rather than a
textbook or survey of African botany or agriculture. It has been written for
dissemination particularly to administrators, entrepreneurs, and researchers in
Africa as well as other parts of the world. Its purpose is to provide a brief
introduction to the plants selected and to stimulate actions that explore and
exploit them. The ultimate aim is to get the most promising native African grains
into greater production so as to raise nutritional levels, diversify agriculture, and
create economic opportunities.
Because the book is written for audiences both lay and professional, each
chapter is organized in increasing levels of detail. The lead paragraphs and
prospects sections are intended primarily for nonspecialists. Subsequent sections
contain background information from which specialists can better assess a plant's
potential for their regions or research programs. These sections also include a
brief overview of "next steps" that could help the plant to reach its full promise.
Finally,
PREFACE xiv
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appendixes at the back of the book provide the following information:
The addresses of researchers who know the individual plants well;
Information on potential sources of germplasm; and
Lists of carefully selected papers that provide more detail than can be
presented here.
Because most of these plants are so little studied, the literature on them is
often old, difficult to find, or available only locally. This is unfortunate, and we
hope that this book will stimulate monographs, newsletters, articles, and papers
on all of the species. One of the most effective actions that plant scientists and
plant lovers can take is to collect, collate, and communicate the Africa-wide
observations and experiences with these crops in such publications. They might
also create seed supplies and distribute seeds of appropriate varieties. All this
could stimulate pan-African cooperation and international endeavors to ensure
that these crops are lost no more.
This book has been produced under the auspices of the Board on Science and
Technology for International Development (BOSTID), National Research
Council. It is a product of a special BOSTID program that is mandated to assess
innovative scientific and technological advances, particularly emphasizing those
appropriate for developing countries. Since its inception in 1970, this small
program has produced 40 reports identifying unconventional scientific subjects of
promise for developing countries. These have covered subjects as diverse as the
water buffalo, butterfly farming, fast-growing trees, and techniques to provide
more water for arid lands (see BOSTID Innovation Program, page 373).
Among these reports, the following provide information that directly
complements the present report:
More Water for Arid Lands (1974)
Triticale: A Promising Addition to the World's Cereal Grains (1989)
Quality-Protein Maize (1988)
Amaranth: Modern Prospects for an Ancient Crop (1983)
Applications of Biotechnology to Traditional Fermented Foods (1992)
Ferrocement: Applications in Developing Countries (1973)
Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems (1992)
Vetiver: A Thin Green Line Against Erosion (1993).
Program and staff costs for this study were provided by the U.S. Agency for
International Development. Specifically, these were
PREFACE xv
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provided by the Office of Nutrition and the Office of the Science Advisor (both
of the Bureau for Science and Technology), as well as the Bureau for Africa. The
panel would like to acknowledge the special contribution of Norge W. Jerome,
Director of the Office of Nutrition, 1988-1991, without whose initiative the
project would not have been launched. Other AID personnel who made this work
possible include Calvin Martin, Tim Resch, Dwight Walker, John Daly, Frances
Davidson, and Ray Meyer.
General support for printing, publishing, and distributing the report has been
provided by the Kellogg Endowment Fund of the National Academy of Sciences
and the Institute of Medicine as well as from the Wallace Genetic Foundation.
We especially want to thank Jean W. Douglas, a foundation director, for her trust
and preserverance during this project's long gestation and difficult birth.
The contributions from all these sources are gratefully acknowledged.
How to cite this report:
National Research Council. 1996. Lost Crops of Africa. Volume I: Grains.
National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
PREFACE xvi
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NOTE ON TERMS
Throughout this book the word "Africa" always refers to Africa south of the
Sahara. (The plants of North Africa are, biogenetically, part of the
Mediterranean-Near East complex of plants, and so are mostly not native to the
rest of Africa.) We have preferred to use English common names where possible,
except in a few cases where they imply the plant pertains only to one country (for
example, Egyptian lupin). Finally, because this book will be read and used in
many regions beyond Africa, we have used the internationally accepted name
"cassava" rather than its more common African name, "manioc," and "peanut" for
"groundnut.''
Nutritional values are in most cases presented on a dry weight basis to
eliminate moisture differences between samples.
PREFACE xvii
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Contents
Foreword 1
Introduction 3
1 African Rice 17
2 Finger Millet 39
3 Fonio (Acha) 59
4 Pearl Millet 77
5 Pearl Millet: Subsistence Types 93
6 Pearl Millet: Commercial Types 111
7 Sorghum 127
8 Sorghum: Subsistence Types 145
9 Sorghum: Commercial Types 159
10 Sorghum: Specialty Types 177
11 Sorghum: Fuel and Utility Types 195
12 Tef 215
13 Other Cultivated Grains 237
14 Wild Grains 251
CONTENTS xviii
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Appendixes
A Potential Breakthroughs for Grain Farmers 273
B Potential Breakthroughs in Grain Handling 285
C Potential Breakthroughs in Convenience Foods 297
D Potential Breakthroughs in Child Nutrition 312
E After Words 318
F References and Selected Readings 329
G Research Contacts 342
H Notes on Nutritional Charts 360
I Lost Crops of Africa Series 363
INDEX OF FOODS 367
INDEX OF PLANTS 369
BOSTID Innovation Program 373
Board on Science and Technology for International Development
(BOSTID)
376
BOSTID Publications 377
CONTENTS xix
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CONTENTS xx
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Lost Crops of Africa
volume I Grains
xxi
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xxii
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Foreword
Africa has more native cereals than any other continent. It has its own
species of rice, as well as finger millet, fonio, pearl millet, sorghum, tef, guinea
millet, and several dozen wild cereals whose grains are eaten from time to time.
This is a food heritage that has fed people for generation after generation
stretching back to the origins of mankind. It is also a local legacy of genetic
wealth upon which a sound food future might be built. But, strangely, it has
largely been bypassed in modern times.
Centuries ago, dhows introduced rice from Asia. In the 1500s, Portuguese
colonists imported maize from the Americas. In the last few decades wheat has
arrived, courtesy of farmers in the temperate zones. Faced with these wondrous
foreign foods, the continent has slowly tilted away from its own ancient cereal
wealth and embraced the new-found grains from across the seas.
Lacking the interest and support of the authorities (most of them non-African
colonial authorities, missionaries, and agricultural researchers), the local grains
could not keep pace with the up-to-the-minute foreign cereals, which were made
especially convenient to consumers by the use of mills and processing. The old
grains languished and remained principally as the foods of the poor and the rural
areas. Eventually, they took on a stigma of being second-rate. Myths arosethat
the local grains were not as nutritious, not as high yielding, not as flavorful, nor
as easy to handle. As a result, the native grains were driven into internal exile. In
their place, maize, a grain from across the Atlantic, became the main food from
Senegal to South Africa.
But now, forward-thinking scientists are starting to look at the old cereal
heritage with unbiased eyes. Peering past the myths, they see waiting in the
shadows a storehouse of resources whose qualities offer promise not just to
Africa, but to the world.
Already, sorghum is a booming new food crop in Central America. Pearl
millet is showing such utility that it is probably the most promising new crop for
the United States. Nutritionists in a dozen or more
FOREWORD 1
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countries see finger millet and some sorghums as the keyfinallyto solving
Africa's malnutrition problem. Food technologists are finding vast new
possibilities in processes that can open up vibrant consumer markets for new and
tasty products made from Africa's own grains. And engineers are showing how
the old grains can be produced and processed locally without the spirit-crushing
drudgery that raises the resentment of millions who have to grind grain every
day.
That, then, is the underlying message of this book. It should not be seen as
an indictment of wheat, maize, or rice. Those are the world's three biggest crops,
they have become vital to Africa, and they deserve even more research and
support than they are now getting. But this book, we hope, will open everyone's
eyes to the long-lost promise inherent in the grains that are the gifts of ancient
generations. Dedicated effort will open a second front in the war on hunger,
malnutrition, poverty, and environmental degradation. It will save from extinction
the foods of the forebears. And it just might bring Africa the food-secure future
that everyone hopes for but few can now foresee.
NOEL D. VIETMEYER
STUDY DIRECTOR
FOREWORD 2
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Introduction
Africa's savannas are probably the oldest grasslands on earth and have
changed little during the last 14 million years. Humans have lived there longer
than anywhere else, perhaps more than 100,000 years. Grass seeds have sustained
them throughout.
Indeed, gathering Africa's wild-cereal grains is probably the oldest tradition
in organized food production to be found anywhere in the world. And the
operation was not small. In fact, seeds of about 60 species of wild grasses are still
gathered for food in Africa.
1
In earlier eras, many were ranked as staples. At least
10 of the wild grasses were domesticated and eventually produced by farmers in
their fields.
In modern times, however, this wealth of native grains has been neglected
and sometimes even scorned. For this reason, we have called them Africa's "lost"
grains.
Despite the neglect, these native grains are not unworthy. For the past, for
the places they were grown and for the level of support they received, they may
have been appropriately judged less useful than wheat, rice, or maize. But for the
time that is fast coming upon us, Africa's sorghum, millets, native rice, and other
indigenous cereals seem likely to become crucial for helping to keep the world
fed.
INTERNATIONAL PROMISE
The present century has seen near miraculous advances in the productivity
of wheat, rice, and maize. Those top three cereals have buffered much of
humanity from the disasters of overpopulation. However, the next centurywhen
human population is expected to doublecannot be built on the expectation of
redoubling the production of those three. After the year 2000, it could well be
advances in today's "second
1
Jardin, 1967.
INTRODUCTION 3
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INTRODUCTION 4
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INTRODUCTION 5
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tier" cereals that are the buffers against famine. It is they that have the
greatest amount of untapped potential. Among them, Africa's native grains
predominate. Sorghum and pearl millet, for instance, are the fifth and sixth most
important cereals in the world, and finger millet is probably the eighth.
2
Generally, they are crops of the poorest countries, which means that their
improvement could directly benefit the people in greatest need.
By comparison with modern wheat, rice, and maizerespectively from the
Middle East, Asia, and Central Americathe grains of Africa still retain much of
the hardy, tolerant self-reliance of their wild savanna ancestors. For the future,
such resilient crops will be vital for extending cereal production onto the ever-
more-marginal lands that will have to be pressed into service to feed the several
billion new arrivals. And if global warming occurs, they could even become vital
for keeping today's best arable lands in production.
Forged in the searing savannas and the Sahara, sorghum and pearl millet in
particular have the merits to become crops for the shifting and uncertain
conditions of an overpopulated "greenhouse age."
LOCAL PROMISE
In the last few centuries in Africa, the local grains have been superseded by
foreign cereals introduced and promoted by outsiders such as missionaries,
colonial powers, or researchers. In recent decades, the production of native grains
has plunged even further as millions of tons of importsparticularly wheat and
ricehave been sold at subsidized prices.
Despite its long history, Africa's cereal production is now low. The Green
Revolution that transformed the tropics and subtropics, from the Indian
subcontinent to South America, passed Africa by. In fact, per-capita production
of cereals has decreased nearly 20 percent (present annual output being only
about 50 million tons or a mere 11
2
Barley, native to the Middle East, is the fourth and rye is the seventh.
In rural Africa, the traditional cereals, such as sorghum and millets, are normally boiled
into porridges (thick) or gruels (thin). Scenes like that shown have led outsiders to
conclude that the crop itself is primitive. But wheat, rice, and maize were also treated this
way throughout most of their 5,000-year history as crops. Only in recent times have they
been commercially processed and packaged and sold in convenient forms. Given the same
treatment, grains like sorghum being cooked here can also enter modern production.
(ICRISAT)
INTRODUCTION 6
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kg per person). It has been estimated that Africa now needs 14 million tons more
grain each year than it is producing. With the population growing at 3 percent per
year and agricultural production increasing by only 2 percent, that shortfall will
reach 50 million tons by 2000.
3
Obviously a crisis is impending in Africa's food supply. Improving cereals
for Africa should be a great international agricultural endeavor. Maize, rice, and
wheat have much to offer and deserve greatly increased support. A crucial
objective, though, must be to extend cereal production into areas where
environmental stresses and plant diseases currently limit their growth. For these
now-marginal lands, Africa's own grains offer outstanding promise. They are
tools for helping build a new and stronger food-production frameworkone of
inestimable value for the hungriest and most destitute nations.
THE SPECIES
This promise (and much more) is described in the body of this book. There,
the following species are covered in detail.
African Rice
Most people think of rice as an exclusively Asian crop, but farmers have
grown a native rice (Oryza glaberrima) in parts of West Africa for at least 1,500
years. This crop comes in a wealth of different types that are planted, managed,
prepared, and eaten in different ways. Some mature extremely quickly and will
fit into seasons and situations where other cereals fail. The grain is much like
common rice, although the husk around it is usually red. This plant not only has
promise in its own right, its genes might also eventually benefit the production of
common rice worldwide. (See chapter 1, page 17.)
3
Spore, June 1995.
Pearl millet in Mali, as seen in the vicinity of Mopti. Crops such as this are a mainstay
of life in the vast rural regions of Africa. Despite their vital importance to millions like this
village farmer, traditional cereals receive only minuscule support from science and the
world community. They are the "forgotten end" of agricultural development. Yet, as can
be seen here, they are a part of the heritage and daily living of hard-working Africans.
Outsiders may scorn pearl millet, but this woman's face shows the pride she feels in her
harvest. (H.S. Duggal, courtesy ICRISAT)
INTRODUCTION 7
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INTRODUCTION 8
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INTRODUCTION 9
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Finger Millet
In parts of East and Central Africa (not to mention India), millions of people
have lived off finger millet (Eleusine coracana) for centuries. One of the most
nutritious of the major cereals, it is rich in methionine, an amino acid critically
lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the world's poor. The plant yields
satisfactorily on marginal lands, and its tasty grain is remarkable for its long
storage life. The fact that certain Africans thrive on just one meal a day is
attributed to the nutritive value and ''filling" nature of this grain. (See chapter 2,
page 39.)
Fonio (Acha)
An indigenous West African crop, fonio (comprising two species, Digitaria
exilis and Digitaria iburua) is grown mainly on small farms for home
consumption. It is probably the world's fastest maturing cereal and is particularly
important as a safety net for producing when other foods are in short supply or
market prices are too high for poor people to afford. But fonio is much more than
just a fallback food; it is also a gourmet grain. People enjoy it as a porridge, in
soups, or as couscous with fish or meat. The plant grows well on poor, sandy
soils. It, too, is rich in the amino acid methionine. It also has a high level of
cystine, a feature that is an even rarer find in a cereal. With its appealing taste and
high nutritional value, this could become a widespread gourmet grain for savanna
regions, perhaps throughout much of Africa or even much of the world. It might
well have a big future as a cash crop and export commodity. (See chapter 3, page
59.)
Pearl Millet
Some 4,000 years ago, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was domesticated
from a wild grass of the southern Sahara. Today, it is the world's sixth-largest
cereal crop, but it has even greater potential than most people imagine. Of the
major cereals, pearl millet is the most tolerant of heat and drought; it has the
power to yield reliably in regions too arid and too hot to consistently support
good yields of other major grains. These happen to be the regions that will most
desperately need help in the decades ahead.
Already, water is shaping up as the most limiting resource for numerous
economieseven some of the most advanced. Agriculture is usually a country's
biggest user of water. Thus, for nations that have never heard of it or that perhaps
regard it with scorn, pearl millet might quickly rise to become a vital resource.
(See chapters 4-6; pages 17, 93, and 111.)
INTRODUCTION 10
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Sorghum
Globally speaking, sorghum is the dietary staple of more than 500 million
people in more than 30 countries. Only rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes surpass it
in the quantity eaten. For all that, however, it produces merely a fraction of what
it could. Indeed, if the twentieth century has been the century of wheat, rice, and
maize, the twenty-first could become the century of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor).
First, sorghum is among the most photosynthetically efficient and quickest
maturing food plants. Second, it thrives on many marginal sites where other
cereals fail. Third, sorghum is perhaps the world's most versatile food crop. Some
types of its grains are boiled like rice, cracked like oats for porridge, "malted" like
barley for beer, baked like wheat into flat breads, or popped like popcorn for
snacks.
The plant has many uses beyond food as well. Perhaps the most intriguing is
its use for fuel. The stems of certain types yield large amounts of sugar, almost
like sugarcane. Thus, sorghum is a potential source of alcohol fuels for powering
vehicles or cooking evening meals. Because of the plant's adaptability, it may
eventually prove a better source of alcohol fuel than sugarcane or maize, which
are the only ones now being used.
Finally, sorghum is a relatively undeveloped crop with a truly remarkable
array of grain types, plant types, and adaptability. Most of its genetic wealth is so
far untapped and even unsorted. Indeed, sorghum probably has more undeveloped
genetic potential than any other major food crop in the world. (See chapters 7-11;
pages 127, 145, 159, 177, and 195.)
Tef
This staple cereal (Eragrostis tef) is the most esteemed grain in Ethiopia. It
is ground into flour and made into pancake-like fermented bread, injera, that
forms the basic diet of millions. Many Ethiopians eat it several times a day (when
there is enough), particularly with spicy sauces, vegetables, and stews.
Tef is nutritious; the grain is about 13 percent protein, well balanced in
amino acids, and rich in iron. In many ways, it seems to have ideal qualities for a
grain, yet research has been scanty and intermittent, and so far the crop is all but
unknown beyond Ethiopia. In the last few years, however, commercial production
has started in the United States and South Africa, and an export trade in tef grain
has begun. These seem likely harbingers of a new, worldwide recognition of this
crop. (See chapter 12, page 215.)
INTRODUCTION 11
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MISUNDERSTANDINGS
It is fair to ask why Africa's grains are not better known. At least in part,
the reason can be attributed to several unjustified perceptions. Some of
these misperceptions that are clouding the world's vision of Africa's native
grains are discussed below.
Inferiority of Displaced Crops. Introduced crops have displaced several
African ones over the past few centuries. For example, in several areas
maize has replaced sorghum; in West Africa, Asian rice has replaced
African rice. As a result, there is a strong inclination to consider the
introduced crop superior and the native crop obsolete and unworthy of
further development.
This is illogical, ill-conceived, and even dangerous. All the world's
agriculture is dynamic and every crop gets displaced at certain times and
certain places. In much of the eastern United States, for instance, wheat
was long ago displaced by soybeans; in the Southeast, peanuts replaced
rice; and in the Great Plains, wheat has supplanted maize. But no one in
America considers wheat, maize, or rice to be inferior, obsolete, or
unworthy.
Misclassification. Africa's cereals are inadvertently discriminated
against through the way they are described. People everywhere classify
sorghums and millets in a different light from wheat, rice, and maize. All the
categories have pejorative connotations. For instance, these grains are
typically referred to as:
• "Coarse" grains (that is, not refined; fit for animal feed);
• "Minor" crops (not worthy of major status);
• "Millets" (seeds too small);
• ''Famine" foods (good for eating only when starving); and
• "Feed" grains (suitable for animals only).
Poor People's Plants. Many crops are scorned as fit only for
consumption by the poor. It happens everywhere. Peanuts, potatoes, and
other common crops once suffered from this same discrimination. In the
United States the peanut was considered to be "merely slave food" until
little more than a century ago, and in the 1600s the English refused to eat
potatoes because they considered them to be "Irish food." Cultural bias
against peasant crops is a tragedy; the plants poor people grow are usually
robust,
INTRODUCTION 12
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productive, self-reliant, and useful—the very types needed to feed the
hungriest mouths on the planet.
Inferior Yield. Low yield is perhaps the most frequent comment made
about Africa's grains. Yet these grains are now mostly cultivated in
marginal lands under less than optimal management and the yields
therefore do not reflect their true potential.
Moreover, the use of yield figures can be totally misleading. Maize may
be able to outyield finger millet, pearl millet, hungry rice, and tef, but only
when soil fertility, moisture, and other conditions are good. Under poor
conditions, African grains often outyield the best products of modern
science.
Unworthy Foods. Millets are mainly used for making porridges,
fermented products, couscous, and other foods that are alien and therefore
somewhat suspect to non-Africans, especially Westerners. This has led
outsiders, who often serve as "decision makers," to direct resources away
from native grains.
Disparaging comments about African foods are not uncommon in the
writings of travelers—especially in Victorian times. They are of course only
personal—often highly prejudiced—opinions but, lingering in the literature,
they have a pernicious influence that can last for decades or even
centuries. Europeans treated the potato and tomato this way when they
first arrived from the Americas. Myths about taste and safety helped block
the adoption of both for two centuries.
Cost-Effectiveness. Most of Africa's grains are exclusively subsistence
crops; the remainder are partially so. Farmers grow them for their own use
rather than for market, and therefore there are no statistics on production or
costs. A plant may be helping feed millions, but in the international figures
on area sown, tonnage produced and exported, and prices paid it never
shows. It is as if it doesn't exist.
This situation might be of little consequence were it not for the fact that
economic-development funding these days is overwhelmingly judged on
"cost-effectiveness." Thus, a crop with no baseline data is at a cruel
disadvantage. Maize or wheat researchers can pull out impressive figures to
justify the promise of their proposed studies. Finger millet or fonio
researchers can only come up with guesses. To the hard-pressed, cost-
conscious administrator—ever fearful of accusations that public funds may
be misspent—the decision on which proposal to support is inevitably
biased.
INTRODUCTION 13
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Other Cultivated Grains
Some of the cereals described previously are not, strictly speaking, "lost."
But there are a number of African food grains that are indeed truly overlooked by
modern science. (See chapter 13, page 237.)
Guinea Millet
Perhaps the world's least-known domesticated cereal, guinea millet
(Brachiaria deflexa), is cultivated by farmers only in the Fouta Djallon Plateau, a
remote region of Guinea. At present, almost nothing can be said about its
potential, but it clearly deserves exploratory research and support.
Emmer
This rare wheat (Triticum dicoccum) originated in the Near East, but it has a
very ancient African heritage. It reached Ethiopia probably 5,000 years ago or
more and, although it virtually disappeared elsewhere in the world, it comprises
almost 7 percent of Ethiopia's entire wheat production. Moreover, far from
abandoning it, Ethiopian farmers over the last 40 years have actually increased
the percentage of emmer that they grow.
The plant is adapted to a wide range of environments and should be
producible in many parts of the world. The fact that it is little changed from
wheat eaten in the times of the Bible and the Koran could give it special
consumer appeal. But it can stand on its own culinary merits. It is one of the
sweetest and best-tasting cereals.
Irregular Barley
Although barley is also not native to Africa, it, too, has been used in
Ethiopia for thousands of years. Indeed, Ethiopian barley has been isolated so
long that it has been given its own botanical name, Hordeum irregulare, and has
developed its own genetic "personality." This ancient barley is grown mainly in
Ethiopia, where it ranks fourth among crops, both in production and area.
Throughout most of the upper highlands it accounts for over 60 percent of the
people's total plant food. Ethiopia is perhaps unmatched with respect to barley
diversity. Indeed, some scientists think it is a source of new germplasm that could
possibly boost barley growing in Africa and around the world.
Ethiopian Oats
In Ethiopia is found a native oats, Avena abyssinica. This species was
domesticated in the distant past and is a largely nonshattering plant that retains its
grain so people can harvest it. It has long been used in Ethiopia and is well
adapted to the high elevations there. It is, however, unknown elsewhere.
INTRODUCTION 14
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Wild Grains
As noted, people in Africa have been eating wild grains for perhaps 100,000
years. In modern times, however, various writers have discounted these grains as
mere "scarcity foods." This is obviously wrong: wild grains were eagerly eaten
even when pearl millet, for one, was abundant.
Many modern writers also imply that the wild cereals were gathered only on a
small and localized scale. This, too, is apparently false. The harvest in the
Sahara, for example, was large-scale, sophisticated, commercial, and much of it
was export-oriented. The wild grains were a delicacy that even the wealthy
considered a luxury. Examples of such untamed cereals are drinn, golden millet,
kram-kram, panic grasses, wild rices, jungle rice, wild tefs, and crowfoot grasses.
Resurrecting the grain-gathering industry of the past might be a way to help
combat desertification, erosion, and other forms of land degradation across the
worst afflicted areas of the Sahel and its neighboring regions. A vast and
vigorous grain-gathering enterprise might perhaps provide enough economic
incentive to ensure that the grass cover is kept in place and that overgrazing is
controlled. That would bring environmental stability to the world's most alarming
case of desertification. (See chapter 14, page 251.)
CONCLUSION
These "lost" plants have much to offer, and not just to Africa. Indeed, they
represent an exceptional cluster of cereal biodiversity with particular promise for
solving some of the greatest food-production problems that will arise in the
twenty-first century.
This potential for utility in the future is because Africa's native grains tend to
tolerate extremes. They can thrive where introduced grains produce
inconsistently. Some (tef, for instance) are adapted to cold; others (pearl millet,
for example) to heat; at least one sorghum to waterlogging; and many to drought.
Moreover, most can grow better than other cereals on relatively infertile soils.
For thousands of years they have yielded grain even where land preparation was
minimal and management poor. They combine well with other crops in mixed
stands. Some types mature rapidly. They tend to be nutritious. And at least one is
reputed to be better tasting than most of the world's well-known grains.
INTRODUCTION 15
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INTRODUCTION 16
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1
African Rice
To most of the world, rice connotes Asia and the vast agriculture of Far
Eastern river deltas. Indeed, humanity's second major crop is from Asia, and 90
percent of itthe main source of calories for 2.7 billion peopleis grown there.
But rice is also African. A different species has been cultivated in West
Africa for at least 1,500 years. Some West African countries have, since ancient
times, been just as rice-oriented as any Asian one. For all that, however, almost
no one else has ever heard of their species.
1
Asia's rice is so advanced, so productive, and so well known that its rustic
relative has been relegated to obscurity even in Africa itself. Today, most of the
rice cultivated in Africa is of the Asian species. In fact, the "great red rice of the
hook of the Niger" is declining so rapidly in importance and area that in most
locations it lingers only as a weed in fields of its foreign relative. Soon it may be
gone.
This should not be allowed to happen. The rice of Africa (Oryza
glaberrima ) has a long and noteworthy history. It was selected and established in
West Africa centuries before any organized expeditions could have introduced its
Asian cousin (Oryza sativa). It probably arose in the flood basin of the central
Niger and prehistoric Africans carried it westward to Senegal, southward to the
Guinea coast, and eastward as far as Lake Chad. In these new homes, diligent
people developed it further.
Like their counterparts in the Far East, Africa's ancient rice farmers selected a
remarkable range of cultivars suited to many types of habitats. They produced
"floating" varieties (for growing in deep
1
There are rice relatives in other parts of the world, too. The genus Oryza is among the
most ancient grasses and was able to spread to every continent before they drifted too far
apart. The result is that different Oryza species are strung out over the tropical regions of
the globe, including South America and Australia. Only one species in Asia and one in
Africa were domesticated, however.
AFRICAN RICE 17
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AFRICAN RICE 18
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AFRICAN RICE 19
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AFRICAN RICE 20
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water), weakly and strongly photoperiod-sensitive types (for growing in
different latitudes and seasons), swamp and upland cultivars (for growing under
irrigated and rainfed conditions, respectively), and early and late-maturing types.
And, for all of these, they selected forms with various seed characteristics.
Although modern efforts to expand rice production in Africa have largely
ignored this indigenous heritage, African rice is still cultivated in West Africa
especially in remote districts. There, until recently, much of it was reserved as a
special luxury food for chiefs and religious rituals. Today, however, farms that
grow substantial stands of African rice are few. The area of most intense
cultivation is the "floating fields" on the Sokoto fadamas (floodplains) of Nigeria
and the Niger River's inland delta in Mali. However, the crop is also widely, if
thinly, spread in Sierra Leone (see box, page 28) and neighboring areas, as well
as in the hills that straddle the Ghana-Togo border.
From one point of view, there seem to be good reasons for abandoning this
food of the forebears. In most locations farmers prefer the foreign rice because it
yields better and scatters less of its seed on the ground. Millers prefer it because
its grain is less brittle and therefore easier to mill. Shippers prefer it as well. For
them, African rice is hardly worth a minute's consideration because it is not a
trade commodity and most types are red-skinned and therefore unsuitable for
mixing with conventional rice in bulk handling.
But these are concerns almost entirely of commercial farming. The situation
is quite different where rice is grown strictly for localized, subsistence, or
specialty use. There, yield, brittleness, color, or international interest can be
unimportant. Indeed, small-scale farmers often prefer African rice. They like the
grain's taste and aroma, and even its reddish appearance. They find the plant easy
to produce: its rambunctious growth and spreading canopy help suppress weeds
and it generally resists local diseases and pests by itself. Also, to some people
traditional rituals are meaningless unless the ancient grain is employed.
Moreover, these are not the only advantages. Compared to its Asian cousin,
African rice is better at tolerating fluctuating water depths, excessive iron, low
levels of management, infertile soils, harsh climates, and late planting (a valued
feature because in West Africa's erratic
For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, "floating" versions of African rice have been
cultivated beside the Niger River, especially here between Timbuktu and Gao. Farmers
along this 600-km stretch count on the Niger to overflow its banks and flood the lowlands
where they've sowed their seeds. The rice plants can survive in rising floodwater up to
several meters deep. When drought reduced the Niger's flow in the 1970s, the full crop
could not be planted and a million lives were put at risk. (J. Gallais. courtesy Flammarion
et cie, Paris)
AFRICAN RICE 21
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climate the rains are often tardy). Also, there are some types that mature much
more quickly than common rice. Planted out in emergencies when food stocks are
getting low, these can save lives.
PROSPECTS
What actually happens in the future to this interesting African crop will
depend on individual initiatives, most of them within Africa itself. Part of the
problem is its lack of prestige. Everywhere, consumers have fallen in love with
processed Asian rice. If someone now makes a processed (that is, parboiled)
product out of African rice, that alone may return it to high favor. Indeed, it may
rise to become a gourmet food of particular interest because of its ancient and
historic heritage.
Part of the problem, also, is lack of supply. Thus, if such specialty markets
develop, it seems likely that African rice will survive as a commercial crop.
Then, with selection and breeding, its various cultivars can almost certainly be
made to compete with Asian rice in most African locations. There is evidence,
for example, that certain types already match the productivity of Asian rice, and
in the yield figures there is considerable overlap between the best African and the
poorer Asian ones. This is remarkable considering the 5,000 years of intense
effort that has been invested in improving Asian rice.
Even if the local rice never thrives as a commercial crop, it will likely
continue as a subsistence crop in West Africa. However, whether this is a
lingering decline for a few more decades or a robust return to massive use
depends on the responses of scientists, administrators, and others. Even in its
current neglected form the plant has something to offer, but just a small amount
of support, promotion, and practical research seems likely to bring dramatic
improvements.
The problems of shattering and brittle grain can undoubtedly be overcome
by careful scrutiny of the types already spread across West Africa. A small cash
prize might well produce appropriate genotypes almost overnight. The same
could happen for white-skin types, which many people would find more
appealing than the main type of today. Even now, not all the varieties are red-
skinned. In Guinea, Senegal, and the Gambia, for example, white types are said to
be already available.
Africa
Although no one can be certain of what will happen with this crop in the
coming decades, the prospects for doubling its production and overcoming its
various technical limitations are good. Technical
AFRICAN RICE 22
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Rice was cultivated in Africa long before any navigator from Java or Arabia
could have introduced their kind of rice to Madagascar or the East African
coast. The native rice was grown first in the central Niger delta, and later in the
Gambia, Casamance, and Sokoto basins. African rice is now utilized particularly
in the central Niger floodplain, the coastal zone between Senegal and Sierra
Leone, and the mountainous areas of Guinea and the Ghana/Togo border.
The primary center (small map) shows the distribution of the wild form. The
secondary centers are where notable arrays of cultivated types occur. The main
rice belt is the zone where African rice is cultivated the most.
AFRICAN RICE 23
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improvements, such as those just mentioned, could give it a solid future. It is
now known only in West Africa, but eventually it might also find a place
elsewhere. Although only a few African countries grow even Asian rice in a
major way, it is the continent's fourth biggest cereal (after maize, pearl millet, and
sorghum) in terms of area planted. And demand is ever rising as population,
standards of living, urbanization, international travel (with its exposure to new
cuisines), and the search for easy-to-prepare foods increase. At present, West
Africa absorbs a quarter of the world's rice exports.
Humid Areas
On the face of it, African rice is at its biggest disadvantage in the humid
lowlands. This is prime country for growing Asian paddy rice, whose current
competitive edge makes it clearly the crop of choice. In addition, in this zone
farmers and governments often invest in irrigation facilities, and to recoup their
vast expenditures they must grow the highest yielding, highest selling crop. As a
result, it is in this zone that African rice has suffered its most precipitous decline.
On the other hand, even here there seems to be a small but vital place for
African rice. A recent survey in southern Sierra Leone, for example, found that
even where Asian rice predominates farmers still retain one or two ultra-quick
traditional types as ''hunger-breakers." And, faced with a worsening hungry
season caused by economic recession or other factors, many farmers say they
would revert to the short-duration African-rice varieties, if only they could find
sources of seed.
2
Dry Areas
For the truly arid zones African rice is not a suitable crop, but on moderately
watered sites (for example, where annual rainfall is at least 760 mm) or
seasonally flooded sites its prospects seem good. The fact that some varieties
mature 10-20 days before their principal Asian-rice rivals is significant in
drylands where precipitation is often erratic. In northern Sierra Leone, for
example, the rainy season in recent decades has been terminating early and with
unusual abruptness. For this reason alone, farmers are cultivating African rice on
at least some portion of their land.
3
With it, they are assured of a harvest.
Upland Areas
In West Africa's highlands
4
where this type of rice is still an important grain
producer, it will continue to be important as
2
Information from P. Richards. For additional details, see box, page 28. Two Sierra
Leone varieties, pende and mala, ripen within 90-110 days: pende is a strongly tillering
variety valued also for its ability to smother weeds.
3
Information from P. Richards.
4
By most standards, these lands are not very high—only about 1,000 m above sea
level.
AFRICAN RICE 24
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a subsistence crop. The upland varieties are notably useful in shifting agriculture.
They also have a place in crop rotations because their root systems and
susceptibility to soilborne diseases differ from those of the major crops. Planting
them for a season or so tends to "sanitize" the site.
Other Regions
For lands beyond Africa, prospects are slight. There, African rice offers few
benefits over the Asian species and may not adapt well.
5
Although it might have a
future as a small specialty crop, more likely it will become an accursed weed,
especially in rice fields.
USES
African rice can be used for all the same purposes as Asian rice. It is thus
extremely versatile. There are, however, some specialized local uses. West
Africa's Mandingo and Susu people, for instance, use rice flour and honey to
make a sweet-tasting bread, so special that it is the centerpiece of ceremonial
rituals. Rice beer is popular throughout West Africa, and in Nigeria a special beer
(called betso or buza) is made from rice and honey. Also, in Ivory Coast there is a
project to use African rice as a component of baby foods.
NUTRITION
Both rices are principally carbohydrate sources. However, in practice
African rice's nutritional quality is greater than that of Asian rice.
6
This seems to
be not because of any inherent difference but because it is more difficult to
polish. Asian rice is invariably polished to a greater degree, and therefore more of
its nutrients (especially the important vitamin, thiamine) are lost.
AGRONOMY
As with Asian rice, African rice is grown in three major ways: dryland (or
upland), paddy, and "floating."
5
For instance, one reason why African rice is not better known internationally is that it
grows poorly in the Philippines, where the world's major rice-research facility is located.
This is not a measure of inferiorityjust a lack of adaptation to the local conditions,
especially to viral diseases.
6
Information from the Food and Nutrition Board, Food Research Institute, Ghana.
AFRICAN RICE 25
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Dryland
About 40 percent of the rice production in Africa's 15 major rice-producing
countries relies on rain as the only source of water. Almost all of that area
employs the Asian species, but West Africa still grows a small but significant
amount of dryland African rice. Indeed, in certain parts of Ghana and Togo it is
the chief staple.
The dryland form thrives in light soils wherever there is a rainy season of at
least 4 months and minimum rainfall of 760 mm. It is often interplanted with
millets, maize, sorghum, beniseed, roselle, cowpea, cassava, or cotton. Today's
varieties mature in 90-170 days. Yields average 450-900 kg per hectare, but can
go as high as 1,680 kg per hectare.
Paddy
Only about one-sixth of Africa's rice is produced using irrigation and 60
percent of that is in just one countryMadagascar. Swamp rice, however, is
being increasingly cultivated in former mangrove areas of the Gambia, Guinea-
Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Essentially all of it at present is the Asian
species.
African rice can also be grown in the same way. It can be seeded into damp
soil or transplanted to fields under water. These types mature in 140-220 days.
The yield ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 kg per hectare.
7
Floating
In the River Niger's inland delta in Mali, farmers grow various forms of
floating African rice. These plants lengthen prodigiously to keep their heads at
the surface of the floodwaters, where they flower and set seed. One type (songhai
tomo) can grow in water more than 3 m deep.
Floating varieties can utilize deeply inundated basins where nothing else can
be raised. They are often harvested from canoes. They ripen in 180-250 days.
Yields range from 1,000 to 3,000 kg per hectare, depending on the amount of
rainfall early in the growing season and on the eventual depth of the subsequent
floods.
HARVESTING AND HANDLING
African rice is handled like its more famous Asian cousin, but (as noted) its
grains tend to split, and so greater care must be taken. Also, it is more difficult to
hull.
As is to be expected with such a neglected crop, yields are variable and
uncertain. However, there are hints that they are not as low as
7
In the region of Timbuktu a very promising, nonfloating, dwarf type called riz kobé is
grown on runoff water in the rainy season. (Information from W. Schreurs.)
AFRICAN RICE 26
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Moisture (g) 5 Cystine 2.6
Food energy (Kc) 358 Isoleucine 4.7
Protein (g) 7.6 Leucine 8.8
Carbohydrate (g) 81 Lysine 4.1
Fat (g) 1.9 Methionine 3.1
Fiber (g) 0.5 Phenylalanine 5.1
Ash (g) 3.8 Threonine 3.7
Thiamin (mg) 0.39 Tyrosine 4.6
Niacin (mg) 5.0 Valine 6.4
Calcium (mg) 25
Iron (mg) 2.0
Phosphorus (mg)
263
COMPARATIVE QUALITY
A glance at this chart shows that whole-grain African rice is at least as rich as
white (i.e., Asian) rice in most nutrients. In some vitamins and minerals it is far
superior.
AFRICAN RICE 27
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commonly claimed. For example, five years of experiments at two sites in
Ivory Coast found that 16 populations of African rice (selected for their
productivity) compared favorably with three top varieties of Asian rice. Despite
their natural lodging and spontaneous shattering, the best African rice varieties
(BG 141 and BG 187) gave average and remarkably stable yields of 1,500-1,800
kg per hectare (depending on the site) as did their Asian counterpart
(Moroberekan), the traditional upland variety promoted in Ivory Coast.
8
RICE IN SIERRA LEONE
Recently, researchers surveyed the distribution and use of rice in Sierra
Leone. Following is their account of their findings. It is probably indicative of
the situation throughout much of West Africa.
In visits to just over 500 farmers in all parts of Sierra Leone, we found
that 245 types ("varieties") of rice were in use. Of these, 24 were African
rice.
Although it generally yields less than Asian rice, African rice survives
and may even be making a modest comeback in some areas, especially
in the drier northwest. There are a number of reasons for this. Compared
with Asian rice, African rice:
Seems to manage better on extremely impoverished soils.
Competes better with weeds. Indeed, farmers pressed by labor
shortages leave the crop to fend for itself. African rice will yield
something even where Asian rice is choked out of existence by weeds.
This is important because for small-scale rice farmers labor shortage is
the most pressing constraint.
Matures quicker. Nearly all the samples we collected matured in 100-125
days and are therefore among the quickest ripening rice cultivars in the
country. (The average for dryland Asian rice in our sample was 130-140
days, and for wetland, 160-170 days.)
Is preferred by many of the people. Several informants believed that
African rice is nutritionally superior. They say that it is "heavy in the
stomach" and keeps hunger at bay far longer
8
Clement and Goli, 1987. In most cases, African-rice varieties from Guinea-Bissau
proved higher yielding than those of other origin.
AFRICAN RICE 28
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than the average Asian rice. Also, they often told us that it tastes
"sweeter." And they said it keeps well after cooking. This is particularly
important because many people prepare food only once a day, but
members of the family drop by to eat at any time.
In northwestern Sierra Leone, however, Asian rice is preferred. People
in this area complained that African rice is difficult to husk and that cleaning
off its tough red bran takes a lot of work. Women in particular complained
of the extra workload it imposes.
On the other hand, in other parts of the country redness was an
important advantage. For example, Mende people in the south and east
look on the red tinge (found on incompletely milled grains) as a guarantee
that the sample is not a foreign rice. Rice soaked in palm oil plays a major
part in their rituals, and it is unthinkable for them to use an Asian wetland
variety.
In their fields, Sierra Leone farmers draw no distinction between Asian
and African rices. Both species go by the same name: mba (Mende) or pa
(Temne). The fields are very mixed from a genetic point of view. The
farmers prefer it that way and, seemingly, they deliberately foster diversity
because most of them know how to rogue out undesirable types and would
do so if they wanted to.
We noticed that the African and Asian species appear to have
hybridized in many places. A number of the most popular Temne rices, for
example, are in fact intermediate types (judged by ligule form, grain shape,
and panicle type). Certain named landraces seemed to be neither Asian
nor African rice and may be assigned to either or both species.
Paul Richards, Serrie Kamara,
Osman Bah, Joseph Amara, Malcolm Jusu
LIMITATIONS
In its present state, African rice certainly has limitations, including those
listed below:
Lodging. The plants tend to have weak stalks, and late-season windstorms
can sometimes topple them.
Shattering. Today's plants tend to drop the seed as it matures.
Splitting. The seed tends to break in half if handled roughly.
Color. Although the grain itself is always white, most types have red
husks.
Processing. To remove the husk is laborious.
AFRICAN RICE 29
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Weediness. In West Africa, extensive genetic interaction occurs between
African rice's wild and cultivated races. The mixed populations that build
up can be extremely complex. The weedy results infest the rice fields and
can be serious pests.
9
Diseases. Compared to Asian rice, it can be more susceptible to numerous
fungi as well as to the parasitic plant striga and to a brown spot of
unknown cause.
Although these limitations collectively add up to a fearsome combination,
they mainly reflect the neglect this crop suffers from. All are now circumvented
by people who grow and use African rice; research can undoubtedly reduce their
severity if not overcome them entirely. Moreover, several of these limitations are
also characteristic of competing grains.
NEXT STEPS
African rice must be kept from dying out as a crop. It deserves research,
development, greater promotion, and support. At the very least it has genes of
potential value to its near relation, the world's second biggest food crop. Actions
to be taken include the following:
Friends of African Rice
A good start could be made by an organization of volunteersboth
professionals and amateurswho join together in a cooperative spirit to explore,
protect, promote, and provide samples of this millennia-old resource. They might
also collect the legends that come with the various types before they, too, die.
Information Exchange
Researchers are now working on rice in Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and other countries. An
international center, the West African Rice Development Association, specializes
in the crop. And two French institutes, Office de la Recherche Scientifique et
Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM) and Institut de Recherches Agronomiques
Tropicales et des Cultures Vivrières-Centre de Coopération Internationale en
Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (IRAT-CIRAD), also have rice
programs in Africa. All but one of these organizations work almost exclusively on
Asian rice, but the presence of their expertise means that there are good
opportunities to advance the development of its African relative.
10
One way to
stimulate
9
Such a gene flow between wild and cultivated species is also of long-term benefit to
the crop. It maintains a broad genetic base and enhances its ability to resist drought, pests,
diseases, and other hazards. But to a farmer faced with the need for high yields of uniform
grain, it can be a curse.
10
Research contacts for these and other programs are listed in Appendix G.
AFRICAN RICE 30
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interest within the international scientific community is to collect all available
research data and publish a detailed monograph on African rice.
Food Processing
As noted earlier, the availability of precooked products made from African
rice might do much to halt its decline and, indeed, to turn it around. Innovation,
ingenuity, and marketing skill could be employed to return this food to
prominence. It might well start out as a specialty product, selling at a premium to
hotels for tourists and to those people dedicated to African traditions.
Seed Supply
In many areas the amount of seed in circulation is so low as to render the
species nonviable. It is important to keep up a supply of seed. Then, at least, the
farmers who want to keep growing African rice won't be excluded as is now
apparently happening in Sierra Leone.
Germplasm
Samples of African rice have been gathered by various organizations,
notably the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), ORSTOM,
and IRAT-CIRAD. This has been stored for purposes of conservation and
possible plant breeding.
11
For all that, however, many interesting types undoubtedly remain to be
collected across the vastness of West Africa.
Agronomic Studies
Since little hard data on this crop exists, it would be useful for students of
agronomy to take up the many challenges of "filling in the map." Examples
include the following:
Selecting nonshattering genotypes or developing techniques to overcome
shattering.
Testing strains for salt tolerance.
Locating types for drought avoidance.
Measuring cell sap osmotic adjustment.
Testing the plant's storage capacity and dormancy requirements.
Reducing broken grains. Certain strains of Asian rice also suffer this
problem and recent research has shown that providing adequate nitrogen
fertilizer largely overcomes it.
12
Research in deep-water rice is vital and long overdue. The resources
availableclimate, water, and growing areaalong with
11
A collection of about 4,000 samples of seeds of wild and cultivated African rice, as
well as Asian rice landraces that have been cultivated in Africa for a long time, is held at
ORSTOM and IRAT-CIRAD. It results from 14 collecting missions in 12 African
countries. Eighty-five percent are cultivated landraces (both African and Asian); 15
percent are wild African species.
12
This research was done by Robert H. Dilday, USDA-ARS Rice Production and Weed
Control Research Unit, P.O. Box 287, Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160, USA.
AFRICAN RICE 31
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proper research could perhaps triple production of deep-water rice in the
Niger's inland delta. This is one area of research that can do something
toward reducing hunger in one of the regions of Africa most in need of
help.
Genetic Improvement
Although the current African types shed grain more readily than the Asian
ones, some improvements have been bred into dryland varieties. Additional
research emphasizing seed shattering could make a big difference. Because the
gene for nonshattering is recessive, the selection of nonshattering types should be
rapid, and true breeding should be immediate. Other improvements might include
selection for resistance to disease. This resistance exists in the various genotypes,
and the major problem is not to lose these local types as Asian rice spreads even
further. For the uplands, any form of rice must resist blast and sheath blight. All
types must also resist rice yellow-mottle virus; some local cultivars already do.
For areas dependent on seasonal flooding, varieties must resist lodging and
respond to fertilizer; the transplant types must tolerate widely varying periods of
growth in the nursery (while farmers await the onset of the unpredictable natural
flooding).
Researchers are at present "mapping" the chromosomes of both African and
Asian rice, identifying the portions that control various features of the plant.
13
This powerful modern technique will "jumpstart" the genetic improvement of
African rice (see box, page 34). Perhaps it could also facilitate the transfer of
useful genetic material between the two.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Name
Oryza glaberrima Steudel
Synonym
Oryza barthii ssp. glaberrima
Common Names
English: African rice, glaberrima rice
French: riz pluvial africain, vieux riz, riz africain, riz flottant
Cameroon: erisi (Banyong)
Guinea: Baga-malé, malé, riz des Baga
Mali: Issa-mo (river rice), mou-bér (great rice)
Sierra Leone: kebelei, mba, mbei (Mende), mala (Kissi), Kono, pa (Temne)
13
Information from G. Second.
AFRICAN RICE 32
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Description
African rice is an annual grass that grows generally between 66 and 120 cm
tall. It is highly variable. The dryland types have smooth, simple culms that can
form roots at the lower nodes and are simply branched up to the panicle (flower
cluster). The floating types can form branches and even roots at the upper nodes.
The panicles are stiff, smooth, and compact. The flowers are self-fertilizing;
however, some inter- and intraspecific cross-pollination occurs.
From a distance, Asian rice and African rice are similar in appearance.
However, African rice has diminutive ligules (small, thin membranes found at the
base of the leaf where it joins the stem). Its compact panicles have less
branching. Its spikelets lack lawns. It is completely annual and dies after setting
seed. Asian rice, on the other hand, continues growing so that late in the season
the two can look strikingly different.
Distribution
African rice is important mainly throughout the southwestern region of
West Africa, but it can be found as far east as Lake Chad, especially in the lands
of the Sahel that are seasonally flooded by the Niger, Volta, and other rivers.
It has apparently been introduced to India. Also, it may have been taken to
Brazil by seventeenth-century Portuguese explorers. Somehow it has also reached
El Salvador and Costa Rica.
14
Cultivated Varieties
Many cultivars of African rice have been obtained by natural crossings and
inbreeding, giving forms with compact panicles and heavy grains. In particular,
there are numerous swamp varieties suited to different soil and drainage
conditions.
15
In northern Mali alone are found about 30 cultivars of the floating
type.
16
Examples of upland varieties of African rice are ITA 208, IRAT 112,
Mutant 18, IRAT 104, and ISA 6.
17
In Upper Gambia, Guinea, and Senegal (Casamance) can be found a special
group of African-rice genotypes with enhanced recessive
14
It was collected there in the 1950s by Roland Porteres, a French botanist who
specialized in studying West African grasses and was a pioneer in bringing the promise of
African rice to world attention.
15
One researcher collected about 180 varieties in the inland Niger delta. P. Martin.
1976. Amélioration des conditions de production du riz flottant au Mali (période
19631-973). L'Agronomie Tropicale 31(2):194-201.
16
Information from W. Schreurs.
17
Information from J. Ayuk-Taken.
AFRICAN RICE 33
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COULD AFRICAN RICE GO HIGH-TECH?
The world's rice research is overwhelmingly focused on Asian rice, but
the remarkable developments now emerging from laboratories may bring
big advances to African rice, on the side. Following are examples.
Gene Mapping. Molecular biologists have recently ''marked" the
locations on rice chromosomes where genes for certain genetic attributes
are carried. These markers can be used to track the genes for those traits.
The ability to determine whether a desired gene is present or absent in any
sample bestows enormous power. It can, for instance, help find a desired
gene in wild as well as cultivated species, it can find a "hidden" gene in a
given plant where the gene's outward effects are masked, and it vastly
simplifies the sorting of thousands of crossbred specimenssomething
that formerly could take a lifetime of tedious effort.
Gene markers based on restriction-fragment length polymorphisms
(RFLPs) are being developed for both Asian and African rices. For
instance, in 1988 a team at Cornell University found markers for various
traits on the set of 12 chromosomes that (in both species) carries all the
genetic characteristics. That first map had 135 genetic landmarks; later
versions have more than 300.
A particular strength of this new work is that breeders can now work
with very young seedlings. In other words, they can tell whether a certain
gene is present without waiting months for the plant to mature. This can cut
the time needed to breed a new varietyusually 10-12 seasonsin half.
Although the genomes (chromosome sets) of both African and Asian
rice have been mapped, the rest of the effort has so far been solely on
Asian rice. Nonetheless, most results from Asian rice are likely to be easily
transferable. The genome is relatively small, containing only a tenth as
much DNA as maize.
Test-Tube Reproduction. Although until recently no grass had been
cloned using tissue culture, today Asian rice, maize, sorghum, and vetiver
have succumbed. African rice has so far not been cultured in the test tube
but, given the new insights, it seems a likely candidate for this powerful
procedure.
Several teams have managed to regenerate fertile rice plants from
protoplastscells from which the wall has been removed. This makes it
even easier to fiddle with rice genes. Already, DNA from bacteria has been
transferred into rice protoplasts. Mature plants, grown from these
protoplasts, have transmitted the implanted DNA to their offspring.
AFRICAN RICE 34
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High-Lysine Forms. In the early 1990s, U.S. Department of Agriculture
researchers discovered Asian rice plants with both high protein quality and
high protein levels. This has raised hopes that extremely nutritious varieties
can be bred for the first time.
To find these new forms, Gideon W. Schaeffer, Francis T. Sharpe, Jr.,
and John Dudley gave small clumps of rice cells a lethal dose of lysine (an
amino acid vital for good health) in a laboratory dish. Only a tiny fraction
survived the treatment. Those few cells, however, could allow more lysine
than normal to be made. The scientists grew them into whole rice plants
and found that the resulting high-lysine plants are true genetic mutants and
therefore suitable for breeding new commercial varieties. Some of the
crossbreeds have succeeded in producing seed of near-normal weights and
good fertility but with greatly enhanced nutritional quality.
The high-lysine trait is apparently controlled by a single recessive
gene. The scientists have begun isolating this gene so as to provide it to
genetic engineers for incorporation into the world's Asian-rice crop. The
work would likely be easily transferable to create high-lysine forms of its
African cousin.
Hybrids. Both the male and female parts on rice flowers are normally
fertile, but researcher J. Neil Rutger of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
has found that growing certain rice plants in 15-hour daylight makes them
essentially female. The plants never develop fertile pollen. This may provide
a cheap and easy way to boost rice yields to a much higher level than at
present. Because the modified plants cannot pollinate themselves, they are
ready-made for pollination by other plants. Any pollination, therefore,
produces hybrids, which are often known to produce robust and high-
yielding plants. This process has not yet been tested on African rice, but
Rutger believes that it might well work.
Asaf Hybrids. Recent decades have seen several dozen research
papers on the genetic and morphological results of crossing Asian rice with
African rice. Most have emerged from laboratories in Japan, Taiwan, and
China. The driving force behind them appears to be the attempt to raise the
yield of Asian rice by forming hybrids.
At least in principle, crosses between African rice and Asian rice might
improve the yield of either or both. Although the botanical literature stresses
their incompatibility, the two are genetically close. Both are self-pollinating
diploids (2n = 24) and possess the same genome, which rice geneticists
call AA.
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characters such as white husks, spikelets persisting to maturity, and
vegetative and floral organs without anthocyanins. These seem to indicate a
secondary region of diversity and may be particularly valuable genetic resources.
Environmental Requirements
Daylength
Varies from neutral to strongly sensitive, depending on variety. However,
most dryland types now in use are sensitive to photoperiod. They flower with the
advent of the dry season. On the other hand, most floating types (at least in
northern Mali) show little sensitivity to daylength.
Rainfall
Some upland varieties can produce adequately with precipitation as low as
about 700 mm.
Altitude
From sea level to 1,700 m.
Low Temperature
Average temperatures below about 25°C retard growth and reduce yields.
Below about 20°C these effects are pronounced.
High Temperature
African rice does well at temperatures above 30°C. Above about 35°C,
however, spikelet fertility drops off noticeably.
Soil Type
Some cultivars apparently can outperform Asian rice on alkaline sites as
well as on phosphorus-deficient sites. Not unexpectedly, however, the crop
performs best on alluvial soils.
Related Species
At least two of African rice's close relatives are regularly gathered for food,
often in sufficient abundance to appear in the markets.
Orza barthii (Oryza breviligulata)
18
is an annual that commonly occurs in
seasonally flooded areas from Mauritania to Tanzania and from the Sudan to
Botswana. It is the wild progenitor of cultivated
18
The nomenclature of wild rices in Africa has been very confused. The names Oryza
stapfii, Oryza breviligulata, and Oryza barthii often occur with uncertain usage. Much of
the older literature is rendered useless by this. It is now considered that Oryza barthii is the
direct ancestor of Oryza glaberrima. The name Oryza breviligulata is now considered
invalid, as is Oryza stapfii the name formerly given to the weedy races of African rice.
AFRICAN RICE 36
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African rice. It can form meadows in inundated areas. Its grain falls off so easily
that it must be carefully collected by hand. (People use a basket or calabash, and
sometimes they tie the stalks in knots to make harvesting easier.) It tastes good
and is sometimes sold in markets. However, wherever rice is cultivated, this plant
is regarded mostly as a weed to be eradicated. Certain strains of this species are
immune to bacterial blight of rice (Xanthomonas), which could give them a
valuable future as genetic resources.
19
Oryza longistaminata is a common wild rice found throughout tropical
Africa as far south as Namibia and Transvaal, as well as Madagascar. Unlike the
other species, it is a perennial with rhizomes. It is tall and outcrossing. It usually
grows in creeks and drainage canals and reproduces by suckers, often setting few
seeds. Nonetheless, these meager grains are sought in times of shortage.
19
S. Devadath. 1983. A strain of Oryza barthii an African wild rice immune to bacterial
blight of rice. Current Science (Bangalore) 52(1): 27-28.
AFRICAN RICE 37
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2
Finger Millet
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is hardly "lost." Indeed, it is one of the few
special species that currently support the world's food supplies. This African
native probably originated in the highlands of Uganda and Ethiopia, where
farmers have been growing it for thousands of years. In parts of eastern and
southern Africa as well as in India, it became a staple upon which millions
depend. And its annual world production is at least 4.5 million tons of grain, of
which Africa produces perhaps 2 million tons.
For all its importance, however, finger millet is grossly neglected both
scientifically and internationally. Compared to the research lavished on wheat,
rice, and maize, for instance, it receives almost none. Most of the world has never
heard of it, and even many countries that grow it have left it to languish in the
limbo of a "poor person's crop," a "famine food," or, even worse, a "birdseed.''
1
Further, in recent years this neglected crop has started an ominous slide that
could propel it to oblivion even in Africa. In fact, it has declined so rapidly in
southern Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, and Zaire, for instance, that some people
predict that in a few years it will be hard to findeven where until recently it
was the predominant cereal. In those areas it clings to existence only in plots that
are grown for use on feast days and other occasions demanding prestige fare.
The world's attitude towards finger millet must be reversed. Of all major
cereals, this crop is one of the most nutritious. Indeed, some varieties appear to
have high levels of methionine, an amino acid lacking in the diets of hundreds of
millions of the poor who live on starchy foods such as cassava and plantain.
Outsiders have long marveled at how people in Uganda and southern Sudan could
develop such strapping physiques and work as hard as they do on just one meal a
day. Finger millet seems to be the main reason.
This crop has many other advantages as well. Its grain tastes better than
most; Africans who know it usually prefer finger millet over all others. The plant
is also productive and thrives in a variety of
1
This is its main use in the United States, for example.
FINGER MILLET 39
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environments and conditions. Moreover, its seeds can be stored for years without
insect damage, which makes them lifesavers for famine-prone areas.
Given all these qualities, it is perhaps hard to understand why finger millet is
being rejected. But the reason is simple. People are giving it up in favor of maize,
sorghum, and especially cassava because producing finger millet takes a lot of
work.
2
The truth is that finger millet, as produced at present, demands a dedication
to drudgery that, given a choice, few people are willing to invest. Part of the
terrible toil is in weeding the fields, part in handling the harvest, and part in
processing the grain.
PROSPECTS
Even though finger millet is declining in the heartland where 30 years ago it
was the major crop of the land, all is not lost. Indeed, if immediate attention is
given, the impediments causing the decline will probably be eliminated. In fact,
there are already signs that the slide may be bottoming out. Prices paid for finger
millet have risen dramatically in some places, and the crop is enjoying something
of a resurgenceand a highly profitable one at that. In Kenya, for instance, the
grain currently sells at more than twice the price of sorghum and maize.
3
In
Zimbabwe, too, the government offers an attractive producer price, which has
tended to slow the decline. And Uganda's most recent statistics indicate that
finger millet still occupies 50 percent of its cereal area.
Africa
If this crop is given proper attention, it has the following possibilities within
Africa.
Humid Areas
Excellent prospects. Certain varieties are adapted to heat, humidity, and
tropical conditions. (Finger millet was once the principal staple for people in
southern Sudan and northern Uganda, for instance.) Given research, recognition,
and sympathetic policies, production could expand dramatically.
2
At least one reviewer speculates that abandoning this nutritious grain millet for the
less nutritious ones is "likely one of the causes of increasing famine in many areas."
3
What is more, the government-controlled price (630 shillings per quintal, or $0.29 per
kilo in 1991) is only half the open-market price (1,200-1,400 shillings per quintal, or $0.60
per kilo).
FINGER MILLET 40
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Finger millet seedheads look like "hands" with the grain contained in the
"digits," hence the name. Some of the hands are curled into "fists." The crop is
especially appreciated by the peoples in eastern and northern Uganda. To them,
it has a high social value. They traditionally hold celebrations for the new
harvest, and they serve finger millet bread to visitors and neighbors whom they
want to impress. In the Uganda region, however, the people prefer finger millet
in the form of hot porridge served with either sugar or banana juice.
FINGER MILLET 41
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Finger millet is grown throughout eastern and southern Africa, but especially in
the subhumid uplands of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zaire, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe. The crop originated somewhere in the area that today is Uganda.
Dry Areas
Fair prospects. Finger millet is not as drought tolerant as pearl millet or even
sorghum, but it could play a much greater role in savanna areas that get at least
moderate rainfall.
Upland Areas
Excellent prospects. Certain finger millet landraces are fully adapted to
highland conditions. In Africa the crop is usually grown at altitudes between
1,000 and 2,000 m and in Nepal it is grown at altitudes up to at least 2,400 m.
Other Regions
Finger millet is certainly not being abandoned in Asia. Indeed, India's
national yields have increased 50 percent since 1955.
4
Moreover,
FINGER MILLET 42
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in Nepal, the finger millet area is expanding at the rate of 8 percent per year.
5
Any
international efforts to promote and improve the plant appear to be as beneficial
to Asia as to Africa.
This high-methionine grain might also be beneficial for use in weaning
foods and in many other cereal products in parts of the world (Latin America and
North America, for instance) where it is now largely ignored.
USES
This is a versatile grain that can probably be used in dozens of types of
foods, including many that are quite unlike its traditional ones. Its several major
uses include the following:
Porridge. The small grainswhich are usually brown but occasionally
whiteare commonly boiled into a thick porridge.
Bread. Some finger millet is ground into flour and used for bread and
various other baked products. All are relished for their flavor and aroma.
Malt. Malted finger millet (the sprouted seeds) is produced as a food in a
few places. It is nutritious, easily digested, and is recommended
particularly for infants and the elderly.
Beverages. Much finger millet in Africa is used to make beer. Its amylase
enzymes readily convert starch to sugar. Indeed, finger millet has much
more of this "saccharifying" power than does sorghum or maize; only
barley, the world's premier beer grain, surpasses it. In Ethiopia, finger
millet is also used to make arake, a powerful distilled liquor.
Fodder. Finger millet straw makes good fodderbetter than that from
pearl millet, wheat, or sorghum. It contains up to 61 percent total
digestible nutrients.
Popped Products. Finger millet can be popped. It is widely enjoyed in this
tasty form in India (see page 298).
4
Most of the increase occurred between 1955 and 1975 and resulted from genetic
improvement of India's traditional landraces. Subsequent increases were due to crosses
between those and new strains introduced from Africa.
5
In Nepal the crop has a special niche: during monsoon rains, it continues growing
well, even when the soil is almost waterlogged and where the nutrients have been leached
out by the daily downpours.
FINGER MILLET 43
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Edible portion (g) 95 Cystine 1.7
Moisture (g) 12 Isoleucine 4.0
Food energy (Kc) 334 Leucine 7.8
Protein (g) 7.3 Lysine 2.5
Carbohydrates (g) 74 Methionine 5.0
Fats (g) 1.3 Phenylalanine 4.1
Fiber (g) 3.2 Threonine 3.1
Ash (g) 2.6 Tryptophan 1.3
Vitamin A (RE) 6 Tyrosine 4.1
Thiamin (mg) 0.24 Valine 6.4
Riboflavin (mg) 0.11
Niacin (mg) 1.0
Vitamin C (mg) 1
Calcium (mg) 358
Chloride (mg) 84
Copper (mg) 0.5
Iodine (µg) 10
Iron (mg) 9.9
Magnesium (mg) 140
Manganese (mg) 1.9
Molybdenum (µg) 2
Phosphorus (mg) 250
Potassium (mg) 314
Sodium (mg) 49
Zinc (mg)
1.5
No single set of numbers can adequately convey the nutritional promise
of a grain as variable as finger millet.The numbers in these pages should be
taken withcaution. The dozen or someasurements that have been
reportedgenerally agree on most ofthe different nutrients. However,
proteincontents ranging from 6 to 14 percent have been claimed. The levels
offat (1-1.4 percent) and foodenergy (323-350 Kc) that are normally
givenare fairly consistentand are about the same as in maize. However,in
some samples they seem to be much higher. The situation regardingiron is
somewhat similar.Most analyses give the figure as about 5 mg per100 g.
But there havebeen two reports of iron exceeding 17 mg.
FINGER MILLET 44
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COMPARATIVE QUALITY
Figures reported for the essential amino acids are generally consistent,
but 3 percent methionine is commonly referred to in the literature. Possibly,
this was based on degerminated flour. Even that figure is outstanding for a
cereal grain.
In this chart, we have compared whole-grain finger millet with the
standard figures for maize. These are perhaps not fair comparisons, but
they do accurately reflect the differences between the forms in which each
food is normally eaten.
FINGER MILLET 45
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NUTRITION
The grain's protein content (7.4 percent) is comparable to that of rice (7.5
percent). However, it shows considerable variation, and at least one Indian
cultivar contains as much as 14 percent protein.
The main protein fraction (eleusinin) has high biological value, with good
amounts of tryptophan, cystine, methionine, and total aromatic amino acids.
6
All
of these are crucial to human health and growth and are deficient in most cereals.
For this reason alone, finger millet is an important preventative against
malnutrition. The methionine levelranging around 5 percent of proteinis of
special benefit, notably for those who depend on plant foods for their protein.
Finger millet is also a rich source of minerals. Some samples contain 0.33
percent calcium, 5-30 times more than in most cereals. The phosphorus and iron
content can also be high.
AGRONOMY
In Asia, finger millet is planted in rows and managed much like other
cereals. But in Africa it is usually handled differently. Unlike maize, sorghum, or
pearl milletall of which are planted at individual stands in a rough seedbed
finger millet is traditionally planted in Africa by broadcasting its tiny seeds. This
demands a very fine seedbed and means that the farmers must work hard and
long, both to prepare the land and to weed the young plants.
Two crops a year are possible with early-maturing types.
HARVESTING AND HANDLING
In most of Africa the crop is harvested by hand. Individual heads are cut off
with a knife, leaving a few centimeters of stalk attached. These are piled in heaps
for a few days, which fosters a fermentation whose heat and hydrolysis makes the
seeds easier to thresh.
Finger millet seeds are so small that weevils cannot squeeze inside. In fact,
its unthreshed heads resist storage pests so well they can be stored for 10 years or
more without insect damage. (It is said that if kept dry the seed may remain in
good condition for up to 50 years!)
Yields are variable but (compared to those of other grains in the area) are
generally good. In Uganda, for example, a threshed yield of 1,800 kg per hectare
is regarded as average. In India, on reasonable
6
"Total aromatic acids" is the combination of phenylalanine and tyrosine.
FINGER MILLET 46
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dryland sites, yields may run to about 1,000 kg per hectare, and on irrigated sites a
normal average is more than 2,000 kg per hectare. Yields of 5,000-6,000 kg per
hectare have been obtained under ideal irrigated conditions. Similar yields have
been obtained in Nepal even under rainfed conditions.
7
LIMITATIONS
As has been noted, the small size of the seeds is a serious drawback. It
makes the crop difficult to handle at all stages.
Weeding is a particular problem. In Africa the dominant weed, a wild
relative of the crop, looks so much like finger millet in its early stages that only
skilled observers and close scrutiny can tell them apart. The problem is
compounded by the practice of broadcasting seed. To weed the resulting jumbled
stands, people must inspect every plant, even going through on hands and knees.
Finger millet is subject to bird predatorsnotably to the notorious quelea
(see Appendix A).
By and large, the plant suffers little from diseases and insects, but a
ferocious fungal disease called "blast" can devastate whole fields.
Finger millet is almost entirely self-pollinating and crosses between
different strains can be made only with difficulty. Until recently, genetic
improvement was limited to pedigree-based selection. However, in Uganda a few
plants with male sterility have now been discovered. These should ease the way
to breeding methods in which different lines can be crossed without trouble.
Because the seeds are so small, it takes skill and much effort to convert
finger millet into flourparticularly by hand. Even hammer mills have
difficulty. They must be fitted with very fine screens and run at high speed.
Recently, however, a special mill for millet has been devised (see next page).
NEXT STEPS
If finger millet is ever to be rescued, now is the time. The key is to find ways
to present its plight and promise to the public and politicians and to develop its
markets. A few motivated individuals could do much here. Among helpful
actions might be a pan-African finger millet conference, where researchers and
others could compare methods used to grow it, prepare it, and sell it in the
various nations. This
7
Information from K.W. Riley.
FINGER MILLET 47
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PROCESSING FINGER MILLET
Milling
Mechanical milling is of course well known; for wheat, rice, and maize,
it is a major industry. But for finger millet, this primary step in the
commercial processing of a food grain is essentially unknown. Machinery
for rubbing the bran (embryo) off finger millet has never been available,
perhaps through a lack of interest but mainly because the grain is
exceptionally difficult to mill by machine. Finger millet, therefore, is usually
eaten as a whole-grain flour, and the presence of oil in the embryo means
that its shelf life is short and its commercial use limited.
Finger millet seed is a challenge to mill because it is very small and
because its seed coat is bound tightly to the edible part (endosperm)
inside. Moreover, the grain is so soft and friable that conventional milling
equipment cannot remove the outside without crushing the inside.
However, farmers have long known that moistening finger millet (for about
30 minutes) toughens the bran and reduces its grip enough that it can be
mechanically separated without crushing the rest.
A machine for doing this has now been developed in India. This so-
called "mini millet mill" consists of a water mixer, a plate grinder, and
various sifter attachments. It is a versatile device in which debranning and
sizing the endosperm (into either flour or semolina) take place in a single
operation. It yields fairly white products. It can also be used to process
wheat, maize, sorghum, and pearl millet and will even remove the outer
husk from finger millet seeds if the clearance between the grinder plates is
reduced.
This machine, and others like it, could initiate a new era for finger millet
as a processed grain of commerce. The flour would then have a good shelf
life and could be trucked to the cities and sold in stores as are wheat, rice,
and maize. Commercial horizons would open up that have never before
been contemplated.*
Malting
Finger millet could be the key to providing cheap and nutritious foods
for solving, at last, the malnutrition that each year kills millions of babies
throughout the warmer parts of the world.
As is described elsewhere (notably in appendixes C and D), the
process of germinating finger millet activates enzymes that break down the
complex structures of starches into sugars and other simple carbohydrates
that are easy to digest. The enzymes
* For more information, contact N.G. Malleshi, Central Food Technological Research
Institute (CFTRI), V.V. Mohalla PO, Mysore 570 013, India.
FINGER MILLET 48
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are of course there to benefit the seeds in which they occurto
mobilize food for the growing seedling; but long ago people found that they
could use them also to break up starches from other sources. This process
(usually called malting) became the first step in making beer and liquor out
of starchy foods such as potatoes, maize, rice, or sorghum (see page 168).
What has been overlooked to a large extent is that malting can be used
for more than just brewing. Indeed, it is probably the key to making cheap,
digestible, liquid foods with little effort and no extra cooking fuel. These
foods are particularly promising for children facing the life-threatening
dietary switch from mother's milk to solid foods.
Adding a tiny amount of malted grain turns a bowl of hot starchy
porridge into a watery liquid. The resulting food matches the viscosity of a
bottled baby food, such as those sold in American supermarkets. A child
who is too small or too weak to get down solids can then get a full meal
and get it out of the food its mother is preparing for the rest of the family.
The germinated grain acts as a catalyst to liquefy any of the world's
major starchy foods: wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, millet, potatoes, cassava
(manioc), yams, and the rest. Moreover, it does more than turn those
staples into liquid form: it predigests the starches, making the food easy for a
body to absorb, and (by releasing sugars) it renders even the blandest
staples palatable. The malted grain is readily available, cheap, and safe to
eat. It should develop healthy bodies and fully functioning brains in the
millions of children whose health and happiness is now jeopardized by
malnutrition.
Of all the world's cereal grains, finger millet is second only to barley in
its ability to hydrolyze starches (''malting power"). And it has the inestimable
value of growing in the latitudes where malnutrition is rife. (Barley is strictly a
temperate-zone resource.)
But for all its potential to benefit the malnourished, not much attention
has been paid to malting internationally. Only in India and Nepal have
malt-based children's foods been intensively studied. In both countries, food
scientists have created malted-grain products that can overcome
malnutrition. And in almost every product, malted finger millet was the prime
ingredient.
The fact that malting is a cheap and widely understood process that
can be easily accomplished in the home or village and requires no fuel or
special equipment is a major benefit. This means that top-quality weaning
foods can be made by the poor, who cannot afford to buy commercial
baby-food concoctions.
FINGER MILLET 49
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meeting would provide the opportunity to exchange experiences and to begin
the process of preparing papers, pamphlets, recipes, and perhaps a monograph.
Another might be the establishment of a "finger millet action program" to share
seeds and research results in the future. There might even be established a pan-
African finger millet "SWAT" team to provide advice and stimulus to the
countries where finger millet is now declining toward economic extinction.
Rescuing this crop may be easier than now seems probable. Lifestyles and
eating habits may have changed, but in much of Africa people still appreciate
finger millet. Subsistence farmers like finger millet also. Every seed sown can
return between 200 and 500 seeds (other grain crops seldom go above 100 even
under ideal conditions). And this crop has many uses. To those whose very lives
and livelihoods depend on what they grow, its flexibility is vital.
8
Beyond Africa, finger millet should also be given a higher research priority.
It is a good way to help the rural poor in parts of Asia. Much of the spectacular
rise of wheat occurred in areas where irrigation could be used. Overcoming
finger millet's yield constraints would, more importantly, benefit rainfed
agriculture.
Research Needs
Research is needed on all aspects of this plant, which now is little known to
scientists in general. ICRISAT is conducting research on it, but more effort is
needed. Research operations might include those discussed below.
Trials in New Areas
Entrepreneurs in the United States as well as in Australia and other countries
that specialize in cereal breeding could probably do much to benefit this crop. It
is already grown in a small way in the United States. It grows well, but so far is
used only for birdseed. Nonetheless, it might support a small specialty grain
industry for local and national food uses. And enlisting the country's outstanding
cereal-science capabilities could perhaps transform this crop's potential
worldwide.
Farming Methods
As far as Africa is concerned, finger millet's greatest immediate needs lie
not so much in plant breeding as in farming practices. Reducing the current
drudgery involved with its production would bring the biggest and quickest
benefits.
Surprisingly, techniques for making finger millet production less
8
For crops like these, perhaps we need a whole new measure of performance, one that
takes into account not just the yield in the field but the all-around value to people's
welfare.
FINGER MILLET 50
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laborious can probably be employed rapidly and widely. For instance, planting
the seed in rows would dramatically slash the need for weeding. One or two
hoeings (or perhaps a layer of mulch) would eliminate most of the weeds with
little further effort. To make this practical, however, a device is needed that can
deliver small seed with precision. It would have to be easy to make and simple to
use. Such devices do indeed exist (see Appendix A) but have not yet been
introduced to finger millet farmers.
Examples of other types of farming practices worth exploring are the
following:
Minimum tillage seeding.
Wide rows for water capture.
Control of birds.
Intercropping or undersowing with legumes. (The foliage from
leguminous shrubs or ground cover may be especially helpful by
supplying nitrogen to the crop.)
Sowing or transplanting with other crops. (In Nepal, for instance, it is
often planted with maize.)
Weeding using animal power and other labor-saving techniques.
Developing ox-drawn implements for planting, cultivating, harvesting,
and threshing finger millet.
Erosion Control
In some parts of southern and eastern Africa finger millet has been
abandoned because it "causes" severe soil erosion. In these areas, farmers
typically clear forest from a hillside, burn it, and sow finger millet in the ashes.
The tiny plants hold soil poorly, and it easily washes away. For such sites there is a
need for alternative methods of erosion control. One example might be vetiver
(see Appendix A). Another is mulching with stubble from the previous crop.
On the other hand, other parts of Africa actually employ finger millet for
erosion control. In fact, when broadcastor even line sownacross the slope it
is good for reducing erosion. Data from Zambia, for example, show that the plant
prevents erosion more effectively than legumes do. Farmers in Nepal also report
that finger millet "holds the soil."
Plant Breeding
In its genetic development as a crop, finger millet is about where wheat was
in the 1890s. Many landrace types are known but have not been systematically
evaluated, codified, or analyzed, Thus it is likely that the best-yielding, best-
tasting, and best-handling types have not been isolated or created out of the
massive gene pool. Since the 1890s, average yields of wheat have risen from
about 500 kg per
FINGER MILLET 51
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RAGI
Finger millet crossed the Indian Ocean more than 1,000 years ago and
since then has become extremely important in South Asia. In India, where it
is generally called "ragi," this native African grain is now grown on more
than 2 million hectares.
In its new home, scientists and farmers have created numerous ragi
races. There are, for instance, plants that are purple; seedheads that are
short, long, "open," "curved," or "fisty"; seeds that range from almost black
to orange-red; and there is also a popular type whose seeds are pure
white. Some ragi varieties are dwarfs (less than 50 cm), some tiller
profusely, some are slow to mature and are grown mainly under irrigation,
while others mature quickly and lend themselves to dryland production.
Ragi is considered one of India's best dryland crops, and most of it is
produced without supplemental water. The plant is both adaptable and
resilient: it survives on lateritic soils, it withstands some salinity, and it has
few serious diseases or pests. Ragi also yields well at elevations above
those suitable for most other tropical cereals. In the Himalaya foothills, for
example, it is cultivated up to slightly over 2,000 m above sea level.
Despite its importance in the Himalayas, about 75 percent of the ragi
area lies in South India, particularly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra
Pradesh. In parts of this vast region farmers can get two crops a year; in
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh three are not unknown. Wherever the
rains at sowing time are uncertain, the farmers often transplant ragi like
rice. In fact, the two crops are commonly grown in a "relay'' that is good for
both. For instance, in May a farmer may start out by sowing ragi seeds in
the nursery; in June, he (or she) transplants the seedlings to the field and
replants the nursery with rice seeds; in August, the ragi crop is harvested
and the rice seedlings are put out into the just vacated fields. This process
is efficient, highly productive, and a good insurance against the vagaries of
the weather.
Ragi yields as much as 5,000 kg of grain per hectare. Because the
seed can be stored for decades (some say 50 years), it is highly valued as a
reserve against famines.
However, ragi is much more than just a famine food. In certain regions
it is an everyday staple. It is, for instance, a principal cereal of the farming
classes in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in the
Himalaya hill tracts (including those of Nepal). The grain is mainly
processed into flour, from which is made a variety of cakes, puddings,
porridges, and other
FINGER MILLET 52
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Indian farmer holding ragi (ICRISAT).
tasty foods. Some, however, is malted and turned into beer as well as
into easily digested foods for infants and invalids.
As in its African homeland, ragi enjoys a reputation for being both
nutritious and sustaining, and Indian studies lend scientific support to this
view. Certain grain types, particularly the white ones, can match the most
nutritious local cereals, at least in protein content.
FINGER MILLET 53
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hectare to more than 4,000 kg per hectare; finger millet's could rise similarly
and much more quickly.
Various finger millet landraces possess genes for blast resistance, robust
growth, early vigor, large panicle size, high finger number and branching, and
high-density grain. Similarly, there are water-efficient types with high carbon
dioxide fixation and low leaf area that could be outstanding new crops for
semiarid conditions. Long-glume types with high seed weight are especially
promising for increasing seed size. All of these, and more, are genetic raw
materials that could transform this crop.
The grain is already nutritious, but it might be improved even more. As
noted, types containing up to 14 percent protein are known. Also, it is a high-
methionine protein and, of all the essential amino acids, is the most difficult to
find in grain-based foods. Thus these finger millets could be a "super cereal" in
nutritional terms.
White-seeded forms that make good unleavened bread and bakery products
are also known, and they too are undeveloped. Today's crop in Africa is
overwhelmingly the coarse, rusty-red form that is mainly useful for porridge and
brewing beer.
Hybrids between Indian and African varieties seem promising as well. These
high-yielding "Indaf" types are popular in India. Similar hybridization and
selection for improved Indaf varieties for African conditions is now being
started.
9
Hybridization, however, is difficult and mutation breeding is another
approach worth exploring.
Some of finger millet's relatives have interesting traits that might be
transferable. Among wild Eleusine species are perennials that might lend some of
their enduring characteristics to finger millet. Others have genes for tolerance of
heat, cold, drought, and waterlogging, as well as resistance to salinity and an
ability to mobilize phosphorus and utilize nitrogen efficiently.
10
Less dramatic but more immediately practical plant-breeding needs are the
fine-tuning of today's varieties. The most important objectives are resistance to
blast,
11
helminthosporium (another fungus), striga (parasitic witchweed),
lodging, stressful soil and moisture conditions, and grain that can be more easily
dehulled and ground. Other objectives might include fast seedling growth to
compete better with weeds, shade-tolerant types for relay and intercropping, and
types with anthocyanin pigmentation in the leaves (possibly obtainable through
9
This work is beginning at the SADCC/ICRISAT Center at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (see
Research Contacts).
10
These wild relatives are currently being collected by IPGRI, but several that could be
part of the primary or secondary gene pool are not yet represented by even a single
collection.
11
Recently, a number of blast-resistant types have been selected at ICRISAT and are
undergoing yield tests in different sites.
FINGER MILLET 54
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induced mutation), which could be spotted easily in the fields and would make
weeding a much easier task.
12
Post Production Research
Reducing the labor to dehull and to grind grain is obviously a vital need.
Less urgent needs include: (1) improvement of malting quality (important both
for brewing and for making high-methionine weaning foods); and (2) new
methods of processing, such as parboiling, milling, and puffing (see
Appendix B).
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Name
Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertner
Common Names
Afikaans (and Dutch): vogel gierst
Arabic: tailabon
Bantu: bule
English: finger millet, African millet; koracan
French: petit mil, eleusine cultivée, coracan, koracan
German: Fingerhirse
Swahili: wimbi, ulezi
Ethiopia: dagussa (Amharic/Sodo), tokuso (Amharic), barankiya (Oromo)
India: ragi
Kenya: wimbi (kiswahili), mugimbi (Kikuyu)
Malawi: mawere, lipoko, usanje, khakwe, mulimbi, lupodo, malesi, mawe
Nepal: koddo
The Sudan: tailabon (Arabic), ceyut (Bari)
Tanzania: mwimbi, mbege
Uganda: bulo
Zambia: kambale, lupoko, mawele, majolothi, amale, bule
Zimbabwe: rapoko, zviyo, njera, rukweza, mazhovole, uphoko, poho
Description
Finger millet is a tufted annual growing 40-130 cm tall, taking between 2.5
and 6 months to mature. It has narrow, grass like leaves and many tillers and
branches. The head consists of a group of digitately arranged spikes.
It is a tetraploid.
12
Information from A. Shakoor.
FINGER MILLET 55
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Distribution
Finger millet derives from the wild diploid Eleusine africana.
13
There is
archaeological evidence that before maize was introduced it was a staple crop of
the southern Africa region. Today it is found throughout eastern and southern
Africa and is the principal cereal grain in Uganda, where it is planted on more
than 0.4 million hectares (especially in northern and western regions), as well as
in northeastern Zambia. It is also an important backup "famine food" as far south
as Mozambique.
Finger millet does not appear to have been adopted in ancient Egypt, and it
is said to have reached Europe only about the beginning of the Christian era.
However, it arrived in India much earlier, probably more than 3,000 years ago,
and now it is an important staple food in some places, particularly in the hill
country in the north and the south.
Cultivated Varieties
Numerous cultivars have been recognized in India and Africa, consisting of
highland and lowland forms, dryland and irrigation types, grain and beer types,
and early- and late-maturing cultivars. By and large, there are highland races and
lowland raceseach adapted to its own climate.
Environmental Requirements
Daylength
Finger millet is a short-day plant, a 12-hour photoperiod being optimum for
the best-known types. It has been successfully grown in the United States as far
north as Davis, California (with considerable problems of photoperiod
sensitivity), and it is widely grown in the Himalayas (30°N latitude); however, it
is mainly produced within 20°N and 20°S latitude. Daylength-neutral types
probably exist.
Rainfall
It requires a moderate rainfall (500-1,000 mm), well distributed during the
growing season with an absence of prolonged droughts. Dry weather is required
for drying the grain at harvest. In drier areas with unreliable rainfall, sorghum and
pearl millet are better suited. In wetter climates, rice or maize is preferable.
Altitude
Most of the world's finger millet is grown at intermediate elevations,
between 500 and 2,400 m. Its actual altitude limits are unknown.
Low Temperature
The crop tolerates a cooler climate than other millets. For an African native,
this crop is surprisingly well adapted to the temperate zones.
13
This wild ancestor has at least one genome derived from Eleusine indica (Hilu,
1988).
FINGER MILLET 56
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High Temperature
Finger millet thrives under hot conditions. It can grow where temperatures
are as high as 35°C.
14
In Uganda, the crop grows best where the average
maximum temperature exceeds 27°C and the average minimum does not fall
below 18°C.
15
Soil Type
The crop is grown on a variety of soils. It is frequently produced on
reddish-brown lateritic soils with good drainage but reasonable water-holding
capacity. It can tolerate some waterlogging.
16
It seems to have more ability to
utilize rock phosphate than other cereals do.
17
14
Information from J.A. Ayuk-Takem.
15
Thomas, 1970.
16
In recent trials of nine cereal species subjected to waterlogging from seedling to
heading, finger millet was the most resistant, except for rice. It resisted waterlogging much
better than maize. (Kono et al., 1988.)
17
In pot experiments, the rock phosphate mobilizing capacity increased in the order
maize: pearl millet: finger millet. (Flack et al., 1987.)
FINGER MILLET 57
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3
Fonio (Acha)
Fonio (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua) is probably the oldest African
cereal. For thousands of years West Africans have cultivated it across the dry
savannas. Indeed, it was once their major food. Even though few other people
have ever heard of it, this crop still remains important in areas scattered from
Cape Verde to Lake Chad. In certain regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and
Nigeria, for instance, it is either the staple or a major part of the diet. Each year
West African farmers devote approximately 300,000 hectares to cultivating
fonio, and the crop supplies food to 3-4 million people.
Despite its ancient heritage and widespread importance, knowledge of
fonio's evolution, origin, distribution, and genetic diversity remains scant even
within West Africa itself. The crop has received but a fraction of the attention
accorded to sorghum, pearl millet, and maize, and a mere trifle considering its
importance in the rural economy and its potential for increasing the food supply.
(In fact, despite its value to millions only 19 brief scientific articles have been
published on fonio over the past 20 years.)
Part of the reason for this neglect is that the plant has been misunderstood by
scientists and other decision makers. In English, it has usually been referred to as
"hungry rice," a misleading term originated by Europeans who knew little of the
crop or the lives of those who used it.
1
Unbeknownst to these outsiders, the locals
were harvesting fonio not because they were hungry, but because they liked the
taste. Indeed, they considered the grain exotic, and in some places they reserved
it particularly for chiefs, royalty, and special occasions. It also formed part of the
traditional bride price. Moreover, it is still held in such esteem that some
communities continue to use it in ancestor worship.
2
Not only does this crop deserve much greater recognition, it could have a big
future. It is one of the world's best-tasting cereals. In recent
1
Information from J. Harlan. In Nigeria it is usually called "acha."
2
It is important this way to the Dogon, a people of Mali. To them, the whole universe
emerged from a fonio seedthe smallest object in the Dogon experiencea sort of atomic
cosmology. (Information from J. Harlan.)
FONIO (ACHA) 59
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times, some people have made side-by-side comparisons of dishes made with
fonio and common rice and have greatly preferred the fonio.
Fonio is also one of the most nutritious of all grains. Its seed is rich in
methionine and cystine, amino acids vital to human health and deficient in today's
major cereals: wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, barley, and rye. This combination of
nutrition and taste could be of outstanding future importance. Most valuable of
all, however, is fonio's potential for reducing human misery during "hungry
times."
Certain fonio varieties mature so quickly that they are ready to harvest long
before all other grains. For a few critical months of most years these become a
"grain of life." They are perhaps the world's fastest maturing cereal, producing
grain just 6 or 8 weeks after they are planted. Without these special fonio types,
the annual hungry season would be much more severe for West Africa. They
provide food early in the growing season, when the main crops are still too
immature to harvest and the previous year's production has been eaten.
Other fonio varieties mature more slowlytypically in 165-180 days. By
planting a range of quick and slow types farmers can have grain available almost
continually. They can also increase their chances of getting enough food to live
on under even the most changeable and unreliable growing conditions.
Of the two species, white fonio (Digitaria exilis) is the most widely used. It
can be found in farmers' fields from Senegal to Chad. It is grown particularly on
the upland plateau of central Nigeria (where it is generally known as "acha") as
well as in neighboring regions.
The other species, black fonio (Digitaria iburua), is restricted to the Jos-
Bauchi Plateau of Nigeria as well as to northern regions of Togo and Benin.
3
Its
restricted distribution should not be taken as a measure of relative inferiority:
black fonio may eventually have as much or even greater potential than its now
better-known relative.
PROSPECTS
Unlike finger millet, African rice, sorghum, and other native grains, fonio is
not in serious decline. Indeed, it is well positioned for improved production.
First, it is still widely cultivated and is well known. Second, it is highly
esteemed. (In Nigeria's Plateau State, for example, the present 20,000-ton
production is only a quarter of the projected state demand.
4
) Third, it tolerates
remarkably poor soil and will grow
3
Both have white seeds but black fonio has black or dark brown spikelets.
4
T. Mabbett. 1991. African Farming Jan/Feb:25-26.
FONIO (ACHA) 60
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Fonio has a lacy appearance. It is often less than knee high. (Nazmul Haq)
FONIO (ACHA) 61
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For a crop that is so little known to science, fonio is surprisingly widely grown. It is employed across a huge sweep of West Africa, from the Atlantic
coast almost to the boundary with Central Africa.
FONIO (ACHA) 62
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where little else succeeds. These are good underpinnings for fonio's future
advancement.
Africa
Humid Areas
Low prospects. Fonio is mainly a plant of the savannas and is probably ill
adapted to lowland humid zones. It seems likely to succumb to various fungal and
bacterial diseases. However, white fonio does grow around the Gola Forest in
southeastern Sierra Leone, and black fonio is reportedly cultivated in Zaire and
some other equatorial locations. These special varieties (occasionally misnamed
as Digitaria nigeria) are possibly adapted to hot and humid conditions.
Dry Areas
High prospects. People in many dry areas of West Africa like fonio. They
know that it originated locally, and they have long-established traditions for
cultivating, storing, processing, and preserving it. During thousands of years of
selection and use, they have located types well adapted to their needs and
conditions. Although the plant is not as drought resistant as pearl millet, the fast-
maturing types are highly suited to areas where rains are brief and unreliable.
Upland Areas
Excellent prospects. Fonio is the staple of many people in the Plateau State
of Nigeria and the Fouta Djallon plateau of Guinea, both areas with altitudes of
about 1,000 m.
Other Regions
This plant should not be moved out of its native zones. In more equable
parts of the world it might become a serious weed.
5
USES
Fonio grain is used in a variety of ways. For instance, it is made into
porridge and couscous, ground and mixed with other flours to make breads,
popped,
6
and brewed for beer. It has been described as
5
It is a relative of crabgrass, a European crop introduced to the United States in the
1800s as a possible food and now a much-reviled invader of lawns. However, white fonio
is grown for forage in parts of the United Statesapparently without causing problems.
6
Little or nothing has been reported on popping this crop, but in southern Togo women
put a little fonio into a metal pot and swirl it over a fire. Within a few seconds the grains
begin bursting and bouncing, and the result is a light and puffy white material. Information
from D. Osborn.
FONIO (ACHA) 63
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a good substitute for semolinathe wheat product used to make spaghetti and
other pastas.
In the Hausa region of Nigeria and Benin, people prepare a couscous
(wusu-wusu) out of both types of fonio. In northern Togo, the Lambas brew a
famous beer (tchapalo) from white fonio. In southern Togo, the Akposso and
Akebou peoples prepare fonio with beans in a dish that is reserved for special
occasions.
Fonio grain is digested efficiently by cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, and other
ruminant livestock. It is a valuable feed for monogastric animals, notably pigs and
poultry, because of its high methionine content.
7
The straw and chaff are also fed
to animals. Both make excellent fodder and are often sold in markets for this
purpose. Indeed, the crop is sometimes grown solely for hay.
The straw is commonly chopped and mixed with clay for building houses or
walls. It is also burned to provide heat for cooking or ash for potash.
NUTRITION
In gross nutritional composition, fonio differs little from wheat. In one white
fonio sample, the husked grain contained 8 percent protein and I percent fat.
8
In a
sample of black fonio, a protein content of 11.8 percent was recorded.
9
The difference lies in the amino acids it contains. In the white fonio
analysis, for example, the protein contained 7.3 percent methionine plus cystine.
The amino acid profile compared to that of whole-egg protein showed that except
for the low score of 46 percent for lysine, the other scores were high: 72 for
isoleucine; 90-100 for valine, tryptophan, threonine, and phenylalanine; 127 for
leucine; 175 for total sulfur; and 189 percent for methionine.
10
This last figure means that fonio protein contains almost twice as much
methionine as egg protein contains. Thus, fonio has important potential not only
as survival food, but as a complement for standard diets.
AGRONOMY
Fonio is usually grown on poor, sandy, or ironstone soils that are considered
too infertile for pearl millet, sorghum, or other cereals. In
7
Göhl, 1981.
8
De Lumen et al., 1986.
9
Carbiener et al., 1960.
10
Using the FAO, A/E approach. Information from B. Standal. One analysis has
reported a methionine level as high as 5.6 percent.
FONIO (ACHA) 64
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Moisture 10 Cystine 2.5
Food energy (Kc) 367 Isoleucine 4.0
Protein (g) 9.0 Leucine 10.5
Carbohydrate (g) 75 Lysine 2.5
Fat (g) 1.8 Methionine 4.5
Fiber (g) 3.3 Phenylalanine 5.7
Ash (g) 3.4 Threonine 3.7
Thiamin (mg) 0.47 Tryptophan 1.6
Riboflavin (mg) 0.10 Tyrosine 3.5
Niacin (mg) 1.9 Valine 5.5
Calcium (mg) 44
Iron (mg) 8.5
Phosphorus (mg)
177
COMPARATIVE QUALITY
FONIO (ACHA) 65
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Fonio is an extremely adaptable plant that is little affected by climatic or soil
conditions, Much of it is found growing in semiarid areas. In the Fouta Djallon
Plateau of Guinea (shown here), it grows on acidic soils with high aluminum
content that are deadly to other crops. (Nazmul Haq)
FONIO (ACHA) 66
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Guinea's Fouta Djallon region, where fonio is common, the soils are acidic
clays with high aluminum contenta combination toxic to most food crops. It is
generally grown just like upland rice, and the two are frequently produced by the
same farmers. Normally, the seed is broadcast and covered by a light hoeing. It
germinates in 3-4 days and grows very rapidly. This quick establishment and the
heavy seeding rate (usually 10-20 kg of seed per hectare) ensures that the fields
seldom need weeding. In a few cases the crop is transplanted from seedbeds to
give it an even better chance at surviving the harsh conditions.
In Sierra Leone, and probably elsewhere, fonio is often grown following, or
even instead of, wetland rice. This is done particularly when the season proves
too dry for good paddy production and the farmers decide to give up on the rice.
Fonio thus serves as an insurance against total crop failure.
In certain areas, fonio may sometimes be planted together with sorghum or
pearl millet. Indeed, it is frequently the staple, while the other two are considered
reserves. Commonly, farmers in Guinea sow multiple varieties of fonio and then
later fill in any gaps with fast maturing varieties of guinea millet (Brachiaria
deflexar).
11
HARVESTING AND HANDLING
Fonio grain is handled in traditional ways. The plants are usually cut with a
knife or sickle, tied into sheaves, dried, and stored under cover. Good yields are
normally 600-800 kg per hectare, but more than 1,000 kg per hectare has been
recorded. In marginal areas, yields may drop to below 500 kg and on extremely
poor soils may be merely 150-200 kg per hectare.
12
Traditionally, the grain is threshed by beating or trampling, and it is dehulled
in a mortar. This is difficult and time-consuming.
The seed stores well.
LIMITATIONS
Because of the lack of attention, fonio is still agronomically primitive. It
suffers from small seeds, low yields, and some seed shattering.
The plant responds to fertilizers, but most types are so spindly that
fertilization makes them top-heavy and they may blow over (lodge).
11
Portères, 1976. This fonio-like grain is described in the chapter on other cultivated
grains, page 237.
12
As noted elsewhere, yield figures such as these can be very misleading. They may be
low, but hungry rice produces a yield on sites or in seasons when other cereals yield
nothing whatever.
FONIO (ACHA) 67
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FONIO: IT'S NOT JUST A FAMINE FOOD
Late in 1990, I interviewed a farmer with a largish plot of fonio. It was
just a few kilometers from Bo town, in central Sierra Leone. What especially
intrigued me was that this was not, as I at first supposed, a poverty-stricken
woman's attempt to grow a little food for household subsistence. It was
instead a commercial venture, aimed at the Bo market. There, fonio sells
(cup for cup) at a better price than rice. By selling her crop she would be
able to buy a larger amount of rice. To me, this was a striking confirmation
of the commercial potential of this almost entirely neglected crop. To the
people who know it, fonio is treasured more highly than rice!
Paul Richards
Birds may badly damage the crop in some areas; bird-scaring is usually
necessary in those locations. The plants are also susceptible to smut and other
fungal diseases.
It has been reported that fonio causes soil deterioration, but this appears to
be a misperception. It is often sown on worn-out soils, sometimes even after
cassava (the ultimate crop for degraded lands elsewhere). It is this association
with poor soils that has given rise to the rumor, but the soils were in fact
impoverished long before the fonio was put in.
Some groups dislike black fonio because, compared with the white form, it
is more difficult to dehusk with the traditional pestle.
The seed loses its viability after two years.
Because of its small seed size, the harvest is very difficult to winnow. Sand
tends to remain with the seed and produces gritty foods. It is therefore necessary
to thresh fonio on a hard surface rather than on bare ground. Also, just before
cooking, the grains are usually washed to rid them of any remaining sand.
NEXT STEPS
Clearly, fonio is important, has many agronomic and nutritional virtues, and
could have an impressive future. This crop deserves much greater attention.
Modern knowledge of cereal-crop improvement and dedicated investigations are
likely (at modest cost) to make large advances and improvements. Yields can
almost certainly be raised
FONIO (ACHA) 68
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dramatically, farming methods made less laborious, and markets developedall
without affecting the plant's resilience and reliability. These results, and more, are
likely to come about quickly once fonio becomes as important to the world's
scientists as it is to West Africa's farmers.
Promotion
General activities to raise awareness of this crop's value and potential
include a monograph, a newsletter, a ''friends of fonio" society, a fonio
cookbook, a series of fonio cook-offs, and fonio conferences. These could be
complemented by publicity, seed distributions, and experiments to test fonio's
farm qualities and cultivation limits.
It should not be too difficult to generate excitement for this "lost gourmet
food of the great ancestors." It might prove a good basis for recreating traditional
cuisines. Even export as a highly nutritious specialty grain is a possibility.
Scientific Underpinnings
Despite its importance, fonio is a crop less than halfway to its potential.
There have been few, if any, attempts to optimize, on a scientific basis, the
process of growing it. Its taxonomy, cultivation, nutritional value, and time to
harvest are only partially documented. Varieties have neither been compared, nor
their seed even collected, on a systematic basis. Little or no research has
been done on postharvest deterioration, storage, or preservation methods.
Germplasm Collection
An early priority should be to collect germplasm.
13
Varieties are particularly
numerous in the Fouta Djallon Plateau in Guinea and around the upper basins of
the Senegal and Niger Rivers.
14
Among these will certainly be found some
outstanding types. This alone seems likely to lead to better cultivars that will
bring marked advances in fonio production. The collection should also be
screened to determine if yield is limited by viruses.
15
If so, the creation of virus-
free seed might also boost yields dramatically.
Seed Size
The smallness of the grain offers a special challenge to cereal scientists: can
the seeds be enlargedperhaps through selection, hybridization, or other genetic
manipulation?
13
One reviewer suggested asking village schoolmasters to collect seeds of all the
different types in their areas. He reports getting outstanding assistance in this way on a
project (in northern Nigeria) dealing with another widespread but little-known crop.
14
Historically, these were the domains of the old empires of Mali, developed in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it is there that fonio probably was brought to its
apogee.
15
In 1985, pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens), a related species that is widely planted
as a tropical forage, was found to carry a stunt virus.
FONIO (ACHA) 69
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Yield
The cause of the low yields needs investigation. Is it because of the sites,
diseases and pests, poor plant architecture, inefficient root structure, lodging,
poor tillering, bolting, or daylength restrictions? What are optimum conditions
for maximum yields? Can fonio's productivity approach that of the better-known
cereals'?
Grain Quality
Cereal chemists should analyze the grains. What kinds of proteins are
present? What are the amino-acid profiles of the different proteins? Nutritionists
should evaluate the biological effectiveness of both the grains and the products
made from them. There are probably happy surprises waiting to be discovered. In
particular, protein fractionation is likely to turn up fractions with methionine and
cystine levels even greater than fonio's already amazingly high average.
The exceptional content of sulfur amino acids (methionine plus cystine)
should make fonio an excellent complement to legumes. Feeding studies to verify
this are in order. The combination could be nutritionally outstanding.
Cytogenetics
As a challenge to geneticists, fonio has a special fascination. It has no
obvious wild ancestor. That it appears to be a hexaploid (2n=6x=54) may help
account for this. Does it, in fact, contain three diploid genomes of different
origin? What are its likely ancestors, and might they be used to increase its seed
size and yield?
Plant Architecture
Lodging is a serious drawback, especially when the soil is fertile. This may
be overcome by dwarfing the plant or endowing stronger stems by plant
breeding. How "free-tillering" are the various types?
Other Uses
Certain other Digitaria species are cultivated exclusively as fodder, whereas
some are notable for their soil-binding properties and ability to produce an
excellent turf. Is fonio also useful for such purposes? Could it, too, become a
valuable all-purpose plant for many regions? Could improved fonio be
"naturalized" in the northern Sahel to increase the availability of wild grain to
nomadic groups?
Sociocultural Factors
How is the crop currently cultivated, distributed, and processed? What roles
are played by social and cultural
Fonio is characterized by the very small size of its seeds. The tiny white grains have
many uses in cooking: porridge, gruel, and couscous, for example. They are also the prime
ingredient in several choice dishes for religious and traditional ceremonies. (Brent
Simpson)
FONIO (ACHA) 70
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FONIO (ACHA) 71
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factors such as the division of labor, traditional beliefs, and people's
expectations? (Fonio, after all, is seldom if ever grown under optimum
conditions.) Its promotion will succeed best in West Africa if its development is
placed within such local constraints.
Processing
The processing and cooking of this crop is extremely arduous. Unless this
can be relieved, fonio will probably never reach its potential.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Names
Digitaria exilis Stapf and Digitaria iburua Stapf
16
Synonyms
Paspalum exile Kippist; Panicum exile (Kippist) A. Chev.; Syntherisma
exilis (Kippist) Newbold; Syntherisma iburua (Stapf) Newbold (for Digitaria
iburua)
Common Names
English: hungry rice, hungry millet, hungry koos, fonio, fundi millet
French: fonio, petit mil (a name also used for other crops)
Fulani: serémé, foinye, fonyo, fundenyo
Bambara: fini
Nigeria: acha (Digitaria exilis, Hausa); iburu (Digitaria iburua, Hausa);
aburo
Senegal: eboniaye, efoleb, findi, fundi
The Gambia: findo (Mandinka)
Togo: (Digitaria iburua); afio-warun (Lamba); ipoga (Somba, Sampkarba);
fonio ga (black fonio); ova (Akposso)
Mali: fani, feni, foundé
Burkina Faso: foni
Guinea: pende, kpendo, founié, pounié
Benin: podgi
Ivory Coast: pom, pohin
Description
As noted, there are actually two species of fonio. Both are erect, free-
tillering annuals. White fonio (Digitaria exilis) is usually 30-75 cm tall. Its
finger-shaped panicle has 2-5 slender racemes up to 15 cm
16
Black fonio has been known to science only since 1911, when a botanist recognized
that what was growing in fields with pearl millet in the Zaria region of northern Nigeria
was a species new to science.
FONIO (ACHA) 72
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FONIO AS FAST FOOD
As noted elsewhere (especially in Appendix C), a lack of processed
products is holding back Africa's native grains. One grass-roots organization
is doing something about this: it is turning fonio into a convenience food.
In southern Mali, fonio is mainly grown by women on their individual
plots. Perhaps not unexpectedly, then, it is a women's group that has
chosen to foster the grain's greater use. The group aims to raise fonio
consumption by producing a precooked flour.
The project, backed by the Malian Association for the Promotion of the
Young (AMPJ), is staffed and run entirely by women. Their goal is a fast-
cooking fonio that will challenge parboiled rice and pre-packaged pasta
(both of which are usually imported) in the Bamako markets.
The new "instant" fonio comes in 1-kg plastic bags and is ready for
use. It requires no pounding or cleaning. It can be used to prepare all of the
traditional fonio dishes. It is simple to store and handle. It is clean and free
of hulls and dirt. And it requires less than 15 minutes to cook. For the user,
then, it offers an enormous saving in both effort and time.
The project is currently a small one, designed to handle 6 tons of raw
fonio per year. It uses local materials, traditional techniques, and household
equipment: mortars, tubs, calabashes, steaming pots, sieves, matting,
kitchen scales, and small utensils. The women sieve, crush, wash, and
steam-cook the fonio; then they dry and seal the product in the airtight
bags. The most delicate operation is a series of three washes to separate
sand from the fine fonio grains.
The women have organized themselves into small working groups,
formed for (1) the supply of raw materials, (2) production and packaging,
and (3) marketing.
Fonio is considered a prestige food in local culinary customs. Yet, on
the Bamako market this precooked product currently sells at a very
competitive price: between 500 and 550 CFA Francs per kg. (By
comparison, couscous sells at 650-750 CFA Francs.)
This small and homespun operation exemplifies what could and should
be done with native grains throughout Africa. It is good for everyone:
diversifying the diet of city folks, reducing food imports, and, above all,
benefitting the local farmers by giving them a value-added product.
FONIO (ACHA) 73
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long. Black fonio (Digitaria iburua) is taller and may reach 1.4 m. It has
2-11 subdigitate racemes up to 13 cm long.
Although both species belong to the same genus, crossbreeding them seems
unlikely to yield fertile hybrids, as they come from different parts of the same
genus.
17
The grains of both species range from "extraordinarily" white to fawn yellow
or purplish. Black fonio's spikelets are reddish or dark brown. Both species are
more-or-less nonshattering.
Distribution
Fonio is grown as a cereal throughout the savanna zone from Senegal to
Cameroon. It is one of the chief foods in Guinea-Bissau, and it is also intensively
cultivated and is the staple of many people in northern Nigeria. Fonio is not
grown for food outside West Africa.
Cultivated Varieties
There are no formal cultivars as such, but there are a number of recognized
landraces, mainly based on the speed of maturity.
Environmental Requirements
Daylength
Flowering is apparently insensitive to daylength.
Rainfall
Fonio is extremely tolerant of high rainfall, but noton the wholeof
excessive dryness. The limits of cultivation (depending on seasonal distribution
of rainfall) are from about 250 mm up to at least 1,500 mm. The plant is mostly
grown where rainfall exceeds 400 mm. By and large, the precocious varieties are
cultivated in dry conditions and late varieties in wet conditions.
Altitude
Although fonio is grown at sea level in, for instance, Sierra Leone, the
Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, its cultivation frequently is above 600 m elevation.
Low Temperature
Unreported.
High Temperature
Unreported.
Soil Type
It is grown mainly on sandy, infertile soils. It can, however, grow on many
poor, shallow, and even rocky soils. Most
17
Information from G.P. Chapman.
FONIO (ACHA) 74
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varieties do poorly on heavy soils. However, by working with a range of
varieties, one can generally adapt the crop to almost all terrains and exposures;
for example, to fertile or unproductive conditions: sandy, limy, gravelly, or
pebbly soils; slopes; plateaus; valleys; or riverbanks.
FONIO (ACHA) 75
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FONIO (ACHA) 76
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4
Pearl Millet
Of all the world's cereals, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum)
1
is the sixth
most important. Descended from a wild West African grass, it was domesticated
more than 4,000 years ago, probably in what is now the heart of the Sahara
Desert (see map, page 80). Long ago it spread from its homeland to East Africa
and thence to India. Both places adopted it eagerly and it became a staple.
Today, pearl millet is so important that it is planted on some 14 million
hectares in Africa and 14 million hectares in Asia. Global production of its grain
probably exceeds 10 million tons a year,
2
to which India contributes nearly half.
At least 500 million people depend on pearl millet for their lives.
Despite its importance, however, pearl millet can be considered a "lost" crop
because its untapped potential is still vast. Currently, this grain is an "orphan"
among the significant cereals. It is poorly supported by both science and politics.
In fact, few people outside of India and parts of Africa have ever heard of it. As a
result, it lags behind sorghum and far behind the other major grains in its genetic
development. For instance, its average yields are barely 600 kg per hectare and it
is almost entirely a subsistence crop; perhaps for this last reason alone pearl
millet has attracted little research or industrial support.
Indeed, largely due to neglect, pearl millet is actually slipping backwards.
Production in West Africa during the last two decades has increased by only 0.7
percent a yearthe lowest growth rate of any food crop in the region and far less
than the population's growth rate. Furthermore, even this meager increase has
been mainly due to expanding the area cultivated rather than to boosting yields.
Elsewhere in Africa the decline has been even more dramatic. Just 50 years ago,
1
Most taxonomists today believe that the most valid name for cultivated pearl millet is
Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. Common synonyms are Pennisetum typhoides and
Pennisetum americanum. The crop is also known as "bulrush millet" and in India it is
normally called "bajra."
2
Exact figures cannot be determined because some countries lump all the millets and
sorghum together in their statistics. Also, many countries cannot provide statistics because
their pearl millet does not enter organized commerce and is therefore never counted.
PEARL MILLET 77
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Kavango, Namibia. A farmer carrying millet heads to prepare the daily meal. (S.
Appa Rao)
PEARL MILLET 78
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pearl millet was of almost incalculable value to millions of rural people in
eastern and southern Africa. But over the decades, more and more farmers
especially in southern Africahave abandoned it and switched to maize.
There are several reasons for this. For one thing, international research
efforts have made maize more productive than pearl millet; for another,
government incentives have given maize an added financial advantage; and for a
third, easier processing has made maize more convenient to use. The
momentum for change has now gone so far that maize is often pushed into pearl
millet areas to which it is poorly suited and where it cannot perform reliably.
Now, however, a new era may be dawning. Pearl millet is supremely adapted
to heat and aridity and, for all its current decline, seems likely to spring back as
the world gets hotter and drier. Perhaps the best of all ''life-support" grains, pearl
millet thrives where habitats are harsh. Of all the major cereals, it is the one most
able to tolerate extremes of heat and drought. It yields reliably in regions too hot
and too dry to consistently support good yields of maize (or even sorghum).
These happen to be the regions most desperately in need of help. It is there that
the famines of recent decades have brought mass devastation and death. It is there
that expanding deserts are destroying the productivity of perhaps 25 million
hectares every year. And it is there that agricultural development could have its
greatest humanitarian benefits.
These reasons alone should be sufficient to make pearl millet the target of a
global initiative. But this crop has even more promise. Rising climatic
temperatures are starting to concern almost all countries. And water is shaping up
as the most limiting resource for dozens of the world's nationsincluding some
of the most advanced. Agriculture is usually a country's biggest user of water, so
that crops that sip, rather than gulp, moisture are likely to be in ever greater
demand. Thus, even for economies that until now never heard of it, pearl millet
could quickly become a vital resource.
Agronomically, there is no reason why pearl millet could not (like sorghum)
become used worldwide. Indeed, recent research in the United States is showing
that its prospects are much higher than most people now think. Already, the crop
is showing promise for the heartland of America. It might also become widely
used in the hotter and drier parts of Latin America, Central Asia, and the Middle
East.
3
It could have a bright future in dry areas of Australia and other countries as
well.
3
Sorghum also has much promise here. It, too, will grow where it is dry, but is best
when conditions are cool as well. Pearl millet's important characteristic is its concomitant
ability to withstand both heat and low moisture.
PEARL MILLET 79
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Pearl-millet-growing areas in Africa. There are an estimated 14 million hectares
of millet in this zone, making it the third most widely grown crop in sub-Saharan
Africa. The plant was probably domesticated some 4,000-5,000 years ago along
the southern margins of the central highlands of the Sahara. It has since become
widely distributed across the semiarid tropics of Africa and Asia. Today,
approximately one-third of the world's millet is grown in Africa; about 70
percent of it in West Africa. Africa's major pearl-millet producing countries
include Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal in
the west; Sudan and Uganda in the east. In southern Africa, the
commercialization of agriculture has resulted in maize partially or completely
displacing this traditional food crop. (ICRISAT, 1987; each dot represents
20,000 hectares)
PEARL MILLET 80
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Pearl millet is easy to grow. It suffers less from diseases than sorghum,
maize, or other grains. Also, it has fewer insect pests.
The widespread impression that pearl millet grain is essentially an animal
feed, unpalatable to all but the desperately hungry, is wrong. The grain is actually a
superior foodstuff, containing at least 9 percent protein and a good balance of
amino acids. It has more oil than maize and is a "high-energy" cereal. It has
neither the tannins nor the other compounds that reduce digestibility in sorghum.
Pearl millet is also a versatile foodstuff. It is used mainly as a whole,
cracked, or ground flour; a dough; or a grain like rice. These are made into
unfermented breads (roti), fermented foods (kisra and gallettes), thin and thick
porridges (toh), steam-cooked dishes (couscous); nonalcoholic beverages, and
snacks.
Grain from certain cultivars is roasted whole and consumed directly. The
staple food of the mountainous regions in Niger is millet flour mixed with dried
dates and dried goat cheese. This nutritious mixture is taken on long journeys
across the Sahara and eaten mixed with waterno cooking required.
Grain from other types is used to make traditional beer. In Nigeria, it is
fermented, like maize or sorghum, to produce ogia traditional weaning food
that is still common.
In future, pearl millet may be used in many more types of foods. The fact
that it can be made into products resembling those normally produced from
wheat or rice should make it acceptable to many more people.
4
With new
technology, there seem to be possibilities of using it even to make raised breads
(see Appendix C).
All this is not to say that pearl millet is perfect. Indeed, the crop has several
serious problems. For one, the raw grain is difficult to process. Many consumers
decorticate (dehull) the grain before grinding it into various particle sizes for use
in different products. Dehulling by traditional hand pounding produces low yields
of flour (around 75 percent) and the product has poor storage stability.
5
Despite these impediments, this plant's promise is so great that we have
devoted the following two chapters to its various types. The next chapter
highlights its promise for subsistence farmersthe millions in Africa and Asia to
whom pearl millet means life itself. The subsequent chapter highlights
commercial pearl milletsthe types that are increasingly grown by farmers who
produce a surplus to sell.
4
Information H.S.R. Desikachar.
5
For a probable solution to this problem, see Appendix C. Semi-wet milling and
parboiling are two techniques that have recently been shown capable of overcoming the
storage stability problem. (Information from D.E. Blyth, ICRISAT).
PEARL MILLET 81
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BAJRA
About 3,000 years ago pearl millet crossed the Indian Ocean and
became a vital contributor to South Asia's food supplies. Today it is India's
fourth most important cereal, surpassed only by rice, wheat, and sorghum.
Bajra, as it is called, is currently grown on almost 10 percent of India's
food-grain area, and it yields about 5 percent of the country's cereal food.
Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh account for nearly 80
percent of the 14 million hectares planted and 70 percent of the 5 million
tons of pearl millet grain produced each year.
India's farmers grow some pearl millet under irrigation during the hot,
dry months and routinely reap harvests as high as 3 or 4 tons per hectare.
But most grow it in the arid areas, particularly where the rainfall is just
insufficient for sorghum or maize. Here, the soils are usually depleted in
fertility and there is no irrigation. Some plots receive as little as 150 mm of
rainfall per year. But pearl millet survives and produces food.
Bajra-growing areas in the Subcontinent. (ICRISAT, 1987; each dot represents
20,000 hectares)
PEARL MILLET 82
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Indian farmer with a sampling of his bajra harvest. (The Rockefeller
Foundation)
Indians commonly grind pearl millet and make the flour into cakes or
unleavened bread (chapati). Some goes into porridges, which may be thin
or thick. Much is cooked like rice. The grain is sometimes parched and
eaten, the product (known as akohi, bhunja, lahi, or phula) being similar to
popcorn. In some regions, the green ears are also roasted and eaten like a
vegetable.
Although small quantities of the grains are used for feeding cattle and
poultry, the plant is more often fed to animals as a green fodder. It is well
suited for this purpose because it is quick-growing, tillers very freely, lends
itself to multiple cutting, and usually has thin and succulent stems.
All in all, pearl millet is not a neglected crop in India. Authorities realize
that it stabilizes the nation's food basket. Improved strains, suited to various
regions, have been created and released for cultivation. Indeed, its
potential is being increasingly exploited, especially as the swelling
population requires increased cultivation of marginal land.
PEARL MILLET 83
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LET THEM EAT MILLET BREAD
Millet once played a greater role in the world of cereals for many rural
people in eastern and southern Africa, but it has declined in importance
over the last 30-50 years because of a preference for maize.
The decline has been compounded by increased research on maize
leading to greater productivity of the crop and by the incentives given to
maize production through government policies. Maize has been grown, as a
result, in dry conditions to which it is not adapted and it has failed too often
in these conditions. Governments have come to realize this as well as the
farmers themselves.
So it is now necessary to reestablish the importance of millet and
sorghum in these drier areas and to do so we must make the production of
these crops attractive enough so that they can compete with maize, not only
in the worst and most severe droughts but in at least a majority of years.
Here is work for the scientists in millet.
But in the long run, even in Africa, maize is not the problem at all. The
problem is wheat, or more correctly, bread. Politicians are going to give the
people bread. They have been saying this for a long, long time, and they
mean it. Technocrats may decry this trend, particularly in tropical areas
where wheat cannot be grown satisfactorily, but I can assure you that the
protestations will be to little avail. They may slow the process down but they
will not stop it. The people of the cities want bread, and the elected officials
will ensure that they get it. The people are already exposed to bread and
they will ask for it, they will insist upon it, and they will get it.
In many tropical countries it will be very expensive to satisfy this
demand unless millet can become bread. And this, too, the politicians
recognize and they will support this demand whether efforts can be made to
decrease the cost of giving people the food that they demand. So here is
something else for the millet scientists to do. Don't ask me how you do it.
You know far better than I do. I am just telling you it's got to be done.
From an address by L.D. Swindale
Former Director-General, ICRISAT
PEARL MILLET 84
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NUTRITION
Pearl millet's average composition is given in the tables on the following
pages. Some highlights are summarized below.
Carbohydrates usually make up about 70 percent of the dry grain, and they
consist almost exclusively of starch. The starch itself is composed of about two-
thirds amylopectin (the insoluble component that forms a paste in water at room
temperature) and one-third amylose (the soluble component that forms a gel in
aqueous solution).
Measurements made on several hundred types have shown that the protein
ranges from 9 to 21 percent, with a mean of 16 percent. However, the varieties
now used in farm practice have an average of about II or 12 percent. Of the
different protein types, prolamine constitutes 40 percent and globulins 20
percent; the presence of an albumin has been also reported, but no gluten. The
protein's biological value and digestibility coefficient have been measured as 83
percent and 89 percent, respectively.
6
The protein efficiency ratio has been found
to be 1.43, which is even better than that of wheat (1.2).
7
The grain has about 5 percent fat, roughly twice the amount found in the
standard cereals. It is composed of about 75 percent unsaturated and 24 percent
saturated fatty acids.
The vitamin values of pearl millet grain are generally somewhat lower than
those of maize, although the level of vitamin A is quite good. The carotene value
is also goodfor a cereal.
8
Of the grain's edible portion, ash comprises about 3 percent, an amount
somewhat higher than in wheat, rice, or maize. The various mineral constituents,
accordingly, tend to occur in greater quantities as well. Compared with maize,
phosphorus (average 339 mg) is half again as much, iron (average 9.8 mg) is
more than three times, and calcium (average 37 mg) is more than five times as
much. Traces of barium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese,
molybdenum, nickel, silver, strontium, tin, titanium, vanadium, zinc, and iodine
have also been noted.
In feeding trials, pearl millet has proved nutritionally superior to rice and
wheat. A review of research in India
9
states that a diet based on pearl millet and
pulses is somewhat better at promoting human growth than a similar diet based on
wheat. In one trial, for instance, researchers made up vegetarian diets typical of
those eaten by the
6
These figures were determined by feeding experiments on rats at a 5-percent level of
protein intake (CSIR, 1966).
7
This was determined at the 10-percent level of protein intake (CSIR, 1966).
8
The value reported (as vitamin A) is 22 retinol equivalents (RE). which is not
outstanding in itself, but any amount of vitamin A is good for a cereal.
9
CSIR, 1966.
PEARL MILLET 85
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Moisture (g) 10 Cystine 1.8
Food energy (Kc) 353 Isoleucine 3.9
Protein (g) 11.8 Leucine 9.5
Carbohydrate (g) 70 Lysine 3.2
Fat (g) 4.8 Methionine 1.8
Fiber (g) 1.9 Phenylalanine 4.1
Ash (g) 2.3 Threonine 3.3
Vitamin A (RE) 22 Tryptophan 1.4
Thiamin (mg) 0.31 Tyrosine 3.0
Riboflavin (mg) 0.19 Valine 4.9
Niacin (mg) 2.6
Calcium (mg) 37
Chloride (mg) 43
Copper (mg) 0.5
Iron (mg)
a
9.8
Magnesium (mg) 114
Manganese (mg) 0.8
Molybdenum (µg) 190
Phosphorus (mg) 339
Potassium (mg) 418
Sodium (mg) 15
Zinc (mg)
2.0
a
Values range from 1.0-20.7 mg.
The pearl millet grain is nutritious. It has no husk, no tannin, contains
5-7 percent oil, and has higher protein and energy levels than maize or
sorghum. The unsaturated fatty acids making up the oil are oleic(20-31
percent), linoleic (40-52 percent), and linolenic (2-5 percent). The saturated
fatty acids are palmitic (18-25 percent) and stearic (28 percent).*
In general, pearl millet has a higher protein content than other cereals
grown under similar conditions. In 180 pearl millet lines tested
* Information from L.W. Rooney.
PEARL MILLET 86
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in 1972, protein contents ranged from 9 to 21 percent with a mean of
16 percent. It has an excellent amino acid profile and, depending on the
variety and perhaps on the growing conditions, the levels of the various
amino acids making up the protein can vary by as much as a factor of two.
In general, however, the reported values show higher tryptophan,
threonine, and valine and lower leucine, but otherwise similar essential
amino acids in pearl millet compared with grain sorghum. What is
uncertain, however, is the digestibility of pearl millet protein. It is possible
that the actual amount of digestible protein is less than that of other major
grains.
PEARL MILLET 87
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poor. When pearl millet partially or completely replaced rice, the nutritive
value increased appreciably.
Studies conducted on children showed that all the subjects fed diets based on
pearl millet maintained positive balance with respect to nitrogen, calcium, and
phosphorus. The protein's apparent digestibility was about 53 percent, an amount
close to that for finger millet and sorghum proteins, but less than that of rice
protein (65 percent). It was also found that pearl millet could replace 25 percent
of the rice in a child's diet without reducing the amount of nitrogen, calcium, or
phosphorus its body absorbed.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Name
Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.
10
Synonyms
Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.f.) Stapf and Hubbard, P. americanum (L.)
Leeke, P. spicatum Roem and Schult.
Common Names
Angola: massango
Arabic: duhun, dukhon
English: pearl millet, bulrush millet, cattail millet, candle millet
Ethiopia: bultuk (Oromo), dagusa (Amharic)
French: mil du Soudan, petite mil, mil
India: bajra, bajri, cumbu, sajje
Kenya: mi/mawele, mwere (Kikuyu)
Mali: sanyò, nyò, gawri
Malawi: machewere (Ngoni), muzundi (Yao), uchewere, nyauti (Tumbuka)
Niger: hegni (Djerma), gaouri (Peul), hatchi (Haussa)
Nigeria: gero (Hausa), dauro, maiwa, emeye (Yoruba)
Shona: mhunga, mhungu
Sotho: nyalothi
Sudan: dukhon
Swahili: uwele, mawele
Swati: ntweka
Zambia: mawele, nyauti, uchewele (Nyanja), bubele, kapelembe, isansa,
mpyoli (Bemba)
Zimbabwe: mhunga (Chewa), u/inyawuthi (Ndebele)
Zulu: amabele, unyaluthi, unyawoti, unyawothi
10
The widely used name Pennisetum americanum is not taxonomically valid, according
to most (but not all) authorities.
PEARL MILLET 88
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Description
Pearl millet is an erect annual, usually between 50 cm and 4 m tall. Tillering
and branching are not uncommon and are sometimes profuse. The straw is coarse
and pithy.
The numerous flowers are tucked tightly around a cylindrical spike (rachis)
that can range in length from 15 to 140 cm. This inflorescence is usually greenish
yellow, and it may be cylindrical throughout its length or may taper at one or both
ends.
The flowers can be either cross-pollinated or self-pollinated. The female
part (stigma) emerges before the male part is ready to shed its pollen.
11
As a
result, cross-pollination normally occurs. However, where the timing overlaps,
some self-pollination can occur.
Grain begins developing as soon as fertilization occurs and is fully
developed 20-30 days later. The whole process, from fertilization to ripening,
takes only about 40 days.
The seeds range in color from white to brown, blue, or almost purple. Most
are slate gray. They are generally tear shaped and smaller than those of wheat.
The average weight is about 8 mg. Some thresh free from glumes, while others
require husking.
The seeds are quick to germinate. If conditions are favorable, they sprout in
about 5 days. Freshly harvested seed may not germinate immediately; however, a
dormancy of several weeks after harvesting has been reported.
Pearl millet is a diploid (2n = 14).
Distribution
The two vast areas of West and East Africa where pearl millet is prominent
have already been mentioned (see page 80).
Soon after its domestication, the crop became widely distributed across the
semiarid tropics of both Africa (15 million hectares) and Asia (14 million
hectares). Pearl millet first became known in Europe about 1566 when plants
were raised in Belgium from seed said to have been received from India. This
form, sometimes known as Pennisetum spicatum, is still grown in Spain and
North Africa. Pearl millet was introduced into the United States at least as long
ago as the 1850s.
Cultivated Varieties
There are vast numbers of types, differentiated by features such as the
following:
11
The first flush of flowering (the female part) is completed in about 2 days; a day later
the anthers from the male flowers emerge and a second flush of flowering (the one that
produces pollen) continues for a further 2 days. A day or two after that a third flush of
flowering begins. This one is from the female-sterile florets.
PEARL MILLET 89
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DOUBLE DIP
Pearl millet's extremely deep roots can reach down into soil layers
untapped by other plants. Tests in the southeastern United States have
revealed that it can pull up nutrients from residues that have accumulated
below the root zones of the previous farm crops.
This finding, should it prove more widely true, has profound
implications. Much of the fertilizer now put on crops leaches past their roots
where it is not only lost but becomes a pollutant. Having an annual crop
that can scavenge the lower layers gives farmers a second shot at the
(expensive) fertilizer as well as a tool for cleaning the environment. They
might even make a profit from it by selling the pearl millet.
Quick maturity (about 80 days), medium maturity (100 days or so), or slow
maturity (180 days or more)
Height
Amount of tillering
Stem thickness and branching
Leaf size and hairiness
Seedhead size, shape, and ''tightness"
Number, length, rigidity, brittleness, and hairiness of bristles
Size, shape, and color of grain
The degree to which the glume adheres to the grain.
For pearl millet, the bulk of the systematic breeding has been done in India,
but substantial contributions have also come from several African countries,
France, and the United States. Most yield improvements have resulted from
incorporating genes from African varieties into Indian breeder stocks. However, a
breakthrough came in the late 1950s when plants carrying cytoplasmic male
sterility were discovered. This genetic trait made hybrids a practical possibility.
Today, single-cross pearl-millet hybrids, using male-sterile seed parents, are the
basis of vigorous private and semi-public seed industries, especially in India (see
chapter 6, page 111).
Environmental Requirements
Daylength
Pearl millet is usually a short-day plant (see next chapter), but some varieties
are daylength neutral.
PEARL MILLET 90
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Rainfall
Although the crop is grown where rainfall ranges from 200 to 1,500 mm,
most occurs in areas receiving 250-700 mm. The lowest rainfall areas rely mainly
on early-maturing cultivars. Although very drought resistant,
12
pearl millet
requires its rainfall to be evenly distributed during the growing season. (Unlike
sorghum, it cannot retreat into dormancy during droughts.) On the other hand, too
much rain at flowering can also cause a crop failure.
Altitude
Pearl millet is seldom found above 1,200 m in Africa, but occurs at much
higher altitudes elsewhere (for instance, in western North America).
Low Temperature
The plant is generally sensitive to low temperatures at the seedling stage and
at flowering.
High Temperature
High daytime temperatures are needed for the grain to mature. In Africa's
pearl millet zone, temperatures are typically above 30°C.
Soil Type
Like most plants, pearl millet does best in light, well-drained loams. It
performs poorly in clay soils and cannot tolerate waterlogging. It is tolerant of
subsoils that are acid (even those as low as pH 4-5) and high in aluminum
content.
Related Species
Pearl millet has many relatives. A number are quite troublesome. In much of
Africa, for instance, wild Pennisetum species manage to get their pollen in, and
this cross-pollination quickly reduces the crop's productive capacity. The hybrid
swarms of weedy "half-breeds" (called shibras in West Africa) are common
contaminants in the farmer's crop. Whereas the cultivated races have broad-tipped
persistent spikelets and large, mostly protruding grains, the wild species have
narrower, pointed spikelets. Also, their grains are smaller, entirely enclosed by
husks, and prone to fall out (shatter). Luckily, the weedy species did not
accompany the crop to India.
Although hybridization and introgression between the crop plants and the
wild relatives is a problem for farmers, it can be a blessing for plant breeders,
giving rise to new forms both of the crop and of the weed. (see page 121).
12
The northern limit of sorghum in West Africa is around the 375-mm isohyet; that of
pearl millet is further northaround the 250-mm isohyet. The crop's drought resistance
comes from its rapid growth, short life cycle, high temperature tolerance and
developmental plasticity.
PEARL MILLET 91
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5
Pearl Millet: Subsistence Types
Pearl millet is the staple of what is perhaps the harshest of the world's major
farming areas: the arid and semiarid region stretching over 7,000 km from
Senegal to Somalia (almost one-sixth of the way around the globe at that
latitude). There, on the hot, dry, sandy soils, farmers produce some 40 percent of
the world's pearl millet grain.
How to help these farmerswho live in the often drought-devastated zone
on the edge of the world's biggest desert and who have no access to irrigation,
fertilizer, pesticides, or other purchased inputsis perhaps the greatest
agricultural challenge facing the world. The answer may lie in their age-old
staple, pearl millet.
Indeed, there is probably no better cereal to relieve the underlying threat of
starvation in the Sahel, the Sudan, Somalia, and the other drylands surrounding
the Sahara. Millions entrust their lives to this single species every day, and, of all
the peoples on the planet, they are the ones most needing help. Yet, at the
moment, pearl millet suffers from neglect and misunderstandingin part because
the crop grows in some of the poorest countries and regions and in some of the
least hospitable habitats for humans (including research workers). People have
thus unjustly stigmatized it as a poor crop, fit only for interim support while
something better is located.
This chapter's purpose is to counter that misguided notion.
SUBSISTENCE MILLETS
Most pearl millets grown in Africa are necessarily oriented toward survival
under harsh conditions rather than high yields.
1
For want of a better name, we
have called them "subsistence types."
To any outsider used to the robust look of wheat, rice, or maize, subsistence
pearl millets may seem puny, unproductive, and downright unworthy of
consideration. To an agronomist or cereal breeder, they
1
The next chapter discusses pearl millet varieties that are adapted to commercial
production and more salubrious sites. They tend to be productivity oriented.
PEARL MILLET: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 93
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FARMING ON THE FRINGE
Pearl millet is the last cereal crop of arable farming on the edge of the
desert—beyond it there is only pasturing and open grazing. There is not a
more drought-tolerant cereal crop to relieve the threat of starvation. When it
fails, nothing else can be substituted. Thus, millions are forced to entrust
their lives to this plant. It is not an easy bargain to make.
Most of Africa's pearl millet is grown where the danger of drought is
ever present; where the landscape abruptly changes between the wet and
dry seasons; where the rains are sometimes limited to only a month or two
or three; and where utter aridity prevails the rest of the time.
It seems a cruel irony that the most destitute of people are forced to
depend upon foods that they must produce for themselves in the harshest
lands. But pearl millet has "rusticité," a French term implying that it will
produce something no matter what. Droughts, floods, locusts, diseases, and
other hazards may hurt, but the plant produces food nonetheless. All other
grains, on the other hand, are more vulnerable and more subject to
complete collapse. It is remarkable that any crop can cope with the sites
where pearl millet is grown. Local cloudbursts can dump the year's
precipitation in a few hours. On crusted and hard soils, such deluges result
in massive rushing runoff, heavy erosion, and the nearly complete loss of
desperately needed moisture. Early season rains are preceded by severe
dust storms that damage, bury, and desiccate tender emerging seedlings.
Scorching heat can kill an entire crop before it becomes established.
Because of problems like these, the threat of crop failure is
omnipresent. Farmers must repeat their sowings, often two or three times.
Most sow more areaand in widely separated sites-than they anticipate
getting a harvest from. During the planting period they may scatter seeds
continually wherever their herds trample the soil, and thereby give the
seeds a chance to survive. To farmers elsewhere, tossing a few seeds in
cow tracks may seem futile, but to those of the Sahel it can mean life itself.
The pain of growing crops on the desert fringe. Pearl millet underpins millions of
desperate lives, including this Fulani farmer in Niger. "I will not plant again," he told the
photographer after a rainstorm flattened his seventh millet planting that year. Even his
resilient subsistence-type pearl millet has succumbed. Most plantings in this region are
lost to drought or sandstorm; this one, ironically, to a flash flood. (Steve McCurry)
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look particularly terrible. The plants perform poorly even when they are
unstressed. They are tall and top-heavy; they are generally photosensitive; they
exhibit low rates of fertilizer response; they have low harvest indexes; and they
are localized in adaptation so that even the best of them cannot be easily moved
around for use in other places. Above all, they are low yieldingaveraging only
around 500 kg per hectare.
In reality, though, subsistence pearl millets are some of the most remarkable
food plants to be found anywhere. In the area of West Africa where pearl millet is
paramount, the droughts can be fierce, the heat searing, and the rainstorms
terrible. The sandstorms are even worse. Early in the growing season, the ever-
present winds increase in intensity and often swirl the soil so powerfully that it
literally sandblasts the tender seedlings. Then, heated by the Sahara sun, the
new-blown sand may "cook" the seedlings before they can grow tall enough to
shade and cool the land around their roots. Finally, as the soil dries out, its
surface often hardens into a crust so impenetrable that any surviving seeds cannot
break through.
Because of conditions like these, crop failure is omnipresent and Sahelian
farmers must repeat their sowings, often several times. But of all food crops,
subsistence pearl millets tend to survive bestthey sometimes survive even in
bare Sahara sand dunes.
2
They are cereals for "base-line food security" and give
the farmer the best chance of staying alive.
By and large, subsistence pearl millets can:
Germinate at high soil temperatures;
Germinate in crusted soil;
Tolerate some sand blasting in the seedling stage;
Yield grain at low levels of soil fertility;
Resist downy mildew;
Tolerate stem borer and head caterpillar; and
Hold up reasonably well against the parasitic weed striga.
Few of the scientists' varieties could be relied upon to produce food under
conditions of such uncompromising hostility.
3
Some of the "faults" perceived by
outsiders are actually of great local importance, as the following examples show.
2
They are also found in bare dunes elsewhere: on the coastal plain of Yemen, for
instance. Information from M.W. Brown.
3
A reviewer from a large research facility in West Africa sent us the following
comment: "The fact is, that after 40 years of [pearl] millet breeding, only one 'improved'
lineCIVTconsistently surpasses (but not by much) local cultivars. Breeders' varieties
routinely underperform local cultivars, even in on-station trials."
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Northern Namibia. An Owambo farmer in front of his harvest holding large, compact heads he has selected for seed to sow
next season. (S. Appa Rao)
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Late Maturation
Elsewhere in the world, plant breeders have tried to speed up their cereals
to make them mature quickly so that more than one crop can be grown per
year; so that weeds, pests, and diseases have less chance of causing destruction;
and so that food can be produced where growing seasons are short. This is one
reason why subsistence pearl millets look bad: many tend to mature very slowly.
The long growing season certainly leads to problems. Since flowering
generally takes place after the rains end, even a brief early drought can hit the
plants before there is any chance of forming seed and thereby bringing on total
crop failure.
However, to Sahelian farmers the delay is all important. They want the
grains to ripen after the rains have ceased. Although agronomically inefficient, it
eliminates many drying and storage problems. (The grains can be easily dried,
and they do not grow molds.) It probably also reduces problems caused by grain
diseases and insects, both of which need moisture to thrive.
For the same reason, some subsistence pearl millets are "open-headed."
This, too, is inefficient, and plant breeders elsewhere try to replace loose
seedheads with compact ones. For the farmer in much of Africa, however, the
open form eliminates many of the drying and storage problems encountered with
tight-headed varieties.
The long vegetative growth phase is probably also a major adaptive
advantage in this region where the soils are lacking in both moisture and fertility:
it gives the roots a chance to explore larger soil volumes. For one thing, this
probably contributes to the plant's drought tolerance. For another, it probably
helps the plant amass the nutrients necessary to grow a good head of grain. This
may take considerable time, because roots grow slowly and because in those
depleted soils the release of any remaining mineral nutrients is itself often slow.
A related, subtle feature is that the traditional crop varieties usually mature
at the same time. This means that only one generation of birds, insects, and
diseases gets a chance to attack the flowers and seeds. Adding a mixture of types
that mature successively is a disaster: it provides a "rolling nursery" that builds up
multiple generations of pests and diseases that then wipe out all late-maturing
types.
Daylength Sensitivity
Many of the world's wild plants (as well as most traditional landraces) are
sensitive to the length of day. Modern plant breeders try to eliminate this
restrictive trait so the plants they produce can be grown in different latitudes and
seasons. But, for the subsistence pearl millets of West Africa, daylength
sensitivity is what ensures that grain will
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be ready to harvest just at the right time in the dry season. It is the length of day
that triggers the plant to flower, not the age of the plants. The yield may be poor
if the season has been difficult, but the plant will at least flower and mature
whatever grain it can.
By-Products
Traditional rustic varieties tend to be big, tall, leafy plants that perform best
when spaced far apart. While these varieties produce massive amounts of
greenery (6-12 tons per hectare even under the prevailing circumstances), the
harvest index is often less than 20 percent. This means that less than 20 percent
of the plant (above ground) is grain and more than 80 percent is stalk and leaves,
as compared to 30 percent or more for improved high-yield-potential varieties.
But farmers who must produce almost every necessity right on their own
land look at these cereals in totality. To them, there is no such thing as excessive
stalk. For anyone who cannot buy fencing, roofing, or fuel, stalks are as valuable
as grains. And for those who have a cow or some goats, the leaves are what keep
the animals alive during the dry season.
4
Consumer Preferences
To a subsistence pearl-millet farmer, the kernel characteristicsshape,
color, processing qualities, and endosperm texturecan be more important than
the absolute yield. A grain is almost worthless if it doesn't have the right (and
often very subtle) properties for the type of foods the family eats. Subsistence
growers choose among the varieties mainly on grounds of suitability for preparing
such dishes as:
Toh. The principal food, served at least once a day in the northern Sahel,
toh is a stiff porridge prepared by adding pearl millet to boiling water
while stirring.
Koko. This is prepared by mixing pearl millet flour with water into a fine
paste, which is then put aside in a warm place for a day or two to ferment.
The resulting sourdough is then dropped into boiling water to form a thin
porridge of creamy consistency.
Marsa. This favorite snack of Ghanaians is a deep-fried pancake, prepared
from the leavened batter of pearl-millet flour.
4
This feature is restricted neither to Africa nor to this crop. Even today in parts of
Turkey and Syria wheat straw sells for more per kilo than wheat grain (and wheat, of
course, is a high-priced crop). Information from J. Harlan.
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Genetic Diversity
Pearl millets grown under truly marginal conditions are usually
heterogeneous enough to ensure stable production over seasons with widely
differing weather patterns. In a sense, the African farmers for centuries have been
performing ''population breeding," a technique that is only now becoming
popular in science. With this technique, a cluster of genotypes acts as a "cohort"
able (collectively) to make the best of varying conditions. The genetically
different plants in the "swarm" help create a successful harvest, no matter what
hazards the season may bring. Should one type be depressed by weather, pests,
disease, or mismanagement, others carry the brunt.
Advancing the qualities of a plant along a broad genetic front helps ensure a
reliablealthough not maximumyield. And when your life depends on what
you can grow, reliability is the most fundamental need.
WHAT TO DO?
Supporting greater production of subsistence pearl millets is one of the
world's most humane endeavors. But improving the plants in this case is probably
of secondary importance. Given the already remarkable qualities of these time-
tested survival crops, given the infertile soils and harsh climates, and given the
resources at the farmer's disposal, it would be difficult to come up with a better
plant than he has already.
More important is research to make the farming methods easier, more
reliable, and more effective; research to make storing and handling the harvest
better and safer; and research to ease the daily drudgery of processing the raw
grain into edible forms.
This book is of course designed to highlight promising plants rather than
farming, storage, or processing methods. However, during the course of this study
we came across some innovative ideas that may help boost the performance and
reliability of subsistence pearl millets. We mention them here briefly. In the
appendixes can be found ideas on potential breakthroughs in pest control, grain
storage, milling, and other pertinent aspects.
REDUCING VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE
Helping farmers to deal with the uncertainties of the early rainsnot to
mention the droughts, sandstorms, and high soil temperaturesare perhaps the
most valuable interventions that can be made. These
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THE DUAL TRACK
In this report we have given equal weight to species for both
subsistence and commercial production. This is certainly an uncommon
approach: in recent years polarization and even rancor have prevailed
between the proponents of each viewpoint. However, in a broad sense,
subsistence and commercial farming, although separate, are parallel and
equally worthya fact not widely recognized by the public and one that
sometimes befuddles even the best-intentioned scientific minds.
Subsistence farming is vital to the lives of millions, of course, and
strengthening it is perhaps the most humanitarian contribution that can be
made to African agriculture. But it is often operationally impossible to reach
the neediest in the way they want. To create a new varietyeven of a
well-understood crop such as wheatcan easily take a decade of
dedication and perhaps a million in money. It is therefore clearly impractical
to reach, individually, the thousands of subsistence regions, each with its
likes and dislikes, needs and desires, climates and conditions.
Although technical farming is not inimical to traditional farming, it is
often much criticized by those most motivated to helping the neediest
farmers. Everybody wants to help the most poverty stricken, of course.
However, there is probably not a single subsistence farmer who doesn't
dream of producing a surplus for sale. And that surplus is much more than a
way to pay for a daughter's dowry or a transistor radio; it is, after all, the
way out of poverty.
For this reason, then, those who are developing modern cultivars and
hybrids for use in even the poorest nations are not wrongheaded or
misguided. Subsistence farmers may be in the overwhelming majority, but
the other farmers are the ones who, producing more than they can eat, feed
the nonfarming publicthe city dwellers, businessmen, doctors, teachers,
tourists, and, yes, even the visiting researchers. Nor is there any reason to
deny subsistence farmers a route to prosperity by withholding from them the
means for producing commercially desirable varieties. Any nation, to survive
and prosper, must help its farmers feed more than themselves.
Commercial farming has different requirements and goals from
subsistence farming, but it poses no threat. This can be seen in many parts
of the world. Throughout the Middle East, for example, farmers grow rustic
and advanced wheats side by sideone for family use, the other for
market day. Also, in the highlands of
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Peru, Indians commonly grow traditional potatoes for themselves and
modern potatoes for the cities.
Some have pointed out that the Green Revolution wheats in India and
Pakistan were grown largely for sale. They conclude (rightly or wrongly)
that commerce was the main motivation and that no quantum leap in food
production can occur in Africa until similar commercial opportunities are
available. Thus, despite the current polarized approaches, subsistence
farming and commercial farming in the Third World are inextricably linked.
Improvements in one can benefit the other.
Traditional Farmers Are Superb, But . . .
Subsistence farmers are to be admired and even emulated. Their
techniques have been honed in the uncompromising harshness of an
unforgiving climate as well as in the ever-present knowledge that failure
means hunger or even death. However, no one should get carried away
with the romantic notion that peasants always know best.
In the 1860s, when the United States proposed putting an agricultural
university in every state, there was much opposition and many claims that
American farmers needed no technical helpthat professors in universities
could not possibly teach the people of the soil how to farm better. But it
proved otherwisethe so-called "land grant colleges" provided the engine
of basic knowledge that has driven U.S. agriculture to its current heights.
It was through those universities and similar research facilities that the
life cycles of many farm pests were worked out, the effects of fertilizer
demonstrated, crop genetics illuminated, soil types and soil micronutrients
identified, and myriad other basic facts underlying any farming operation
brought to light. With this knowledge, even the most stubborn traditionalists
were able to coax more from their land, with less effort and more
consistency.
All in all, there are many ways in which a basic biological understanding
can benefit the subsistence farmers of the hungry nations. Even the best of
those farmers can, in this way, be helped to grow their crops more easily,
more reliably, and with higher returns.
In the past, scientific findings were applied mostly to commercial
agriculture, but that was because larger scale farmers are usually easier to
reach and more susceptible to change. Knowledge is not detrimental to
subsistence farming, and the polarization that now pervades rhetoric and
thinking worldwide is deplorable.
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would provide more secure environments early in the planting season and
would do much to reduce a farmer's vulnerability to total crop failure before the
crop is even started. Following are six possibilities.
Tillering
The pearl millets grown in the Sahel tend to be nontilleringeach seed puts
up only a single stem. This adds a major vulnerability because if that stem dies in a
drought or sandstorm, for example, the plant is lost.
But certain pearl millets put up as many as five headsnot all of them at
once. In this case, then, the destruction of a stem still leaves the plant alive and
with a chance to rebound.
Other things being equal, adding some tillering types would dramatically
reduce the severity of crop losses in the bad years and it would reduce the need to
replant damaged fields. And in the good years when the rains are plentiful and
timely, two or three (or perhaps more) stems would all emerge and survive,
thereby doubling or tripling the yield.
Deep Planting
In the United States, researchers are studying how different types of pearl
millet perform while in the seedling stage. They have found that the seedlings
show large differences in the length and in the speed with which they lengthen.
5
By selecting types that produce tall seedlings and rapid elongation they have been
able to plant the crop as deep as 10 cm.
6
This gives the newly germinated and
highly vulnerable seedling a better chance at surviving: it can reach deeper
moisture; it is less likely to be killed if the soil surface dries out; and, if it is a fast
grower, it can perhaps get through to the air before the soil crusts over.
Although the tests were done in germinators and greenhouses in the United
States, they successfully identified lines possessing improved stand-
establishment capabilities of high potential value for the subsistence farmers
facing the elements a world away.
Water Harvesting
There are many possible ways to help concentrate moisture at the base of
seedlings. A companion report identifies a considerable number.
7
That these are
likely to have significant value is suggested
5
This work has been spearheaded by W.D. Stegmeier.
6
Highly significant differences in elongation of mesocotyl (MC) and coleoptile (CL)
organs were found among 1,100 entries germinated at 30°C with MC and CL lengths
ranging from 14 to 130 mm and 6 to 40 mm, respectively.
7
More Water for Arid Lands. For a list of BOSTID reports, see page 377.
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by a recent paper on the use of soil imprinting and tied ridges.
8
Both techniques
produce little "basins" around the plants where water collects.
In the trials (conducted in an area of West Africa where annual rainfall is
600-900 mm), tied ridges captured 85-100 percent of the rainfall received on the
site during the season. Normal ridging or flat planting captured only 55-80
percentthe rest was lost as runoff. Tied ridging also reduced the soil's surface
bulk density, maintained soil fertility (by reducing losses of soil nutrients), and
improved the soil's water-holding capacity. In the case of the pearl millet crop,
tied ridging increased the depth of rooting, the root density, the vegetative
growth, and the yieldsand it did it in both wet and dry years.
Transplanting
The use of nurseries is one of the oldest strategies to avoid water stress in the
seedling stage. For centuries, Asians have transplanted rice seedlings and West
Africans have transplanted sorghum seedlings (see page 184). Now farmers in
parts of Asia are transplanting maize in the same way. Direct sowing is of course
much easier, but wherever catastrophic failure is a probability, transplanting
provides added security.
9
In this process, the seeds are planted not in the fields, but in small irrigated
nurseries; they are taken to the fields only after the rains have commenced in
earnest. This technique seems particularly promising with subsistence pearl
millet (not to mention other crops in this book) because the crop must be
established during the least favorable season, the time available is often short, the
water supply limited, and the weather unpredictable. On top of all that, the farmer
feels pressure to plant early because the family needs food and because the
growing season is all too brief.
Transplanting not only overcomes the hazards of the unreliable early rains,
but compared with a seeded crop, the transplanted crop is in the field for a much
shorter time. It also needs far less water for an equivalent yield, and its resistance
to the elements is greater. Growing
8
N.R. Hulugalle. 1990. Alleviation of soil constraints to crop growth in the upland
alfisols and associated soil groups of the West African Sudan savannah by tied ridges. Soil
and Tillage Research (Netherlands) 18(2-3):231-247.
9
Vietnam, long familiar with transplanting rice, pioneered the technique with maize in
tropical conditions. Today, the cultivation of transplanted maize is widespread in the Red
River Delta. The technique has boosted the maize crop from 50,000 hectares a year in
1983-1986 to almost 250,000 hectares in 1990. North Korea also uses transplanted maize
these days. In fact, it has been said that without transplanting, the area under maize would
probably never have exceeded 350,000 hectares, whereas today it covers about 700,000
hectares.
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the seedlings in a nursery also allows the farmer to cull diseased plants and
thereby reduce the intensity of infection.
Although transplanting is so far associated mainly with other crops, there
seems to be no reason why it couldn't prove most beneficial with subsistence
pearl millets. Indeed, in a few parts of India and Africa this is already practiced,
and with considerable success.
Mulching
As we have noted, burning-hot soil is one of the major hazards to the newly
planted subsistence millets. Anything that could cool the surface of the land
would help. Apparently, little or no innovation has yet been applied to this
problem, although some tests using shade have resulted in a tenfold increase in
survival and yield.
10
Windbreaks
The "sand-blasting" effect can surely be overcome by various kinds of
barriers around (or at least on the windward sides of) the fields. One suggestion is
the use of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) hedges. This tall, extremely rugged
grass would probably be unaffected by the blasting sand as its stems are enclosed
in tough sheaths. When the time for planting crops arriveseven at the end of the
driest of seasonsthis perennial should still be standing stiff and straight and
able to battle the wind.
11
IMPROVING CROP MANAGEMENT
Ideas on helping subsistence farmers handle their crops with less work or
higher returns can be found in various books, journals, research-station reports,
and PVO newsletters, for example. We have included a few ideas in the
appendixes to this volume. It is thus not our intention here to belabor such fairly
well-recognized issues as the use of fertilizers, optimum levels of tillage, optimum
crop population size, and the use of less-laborious cultivation practices such as
hoes, plows, and draft animals.
There are, however, some promising lines of research that fit in with the
spirit of innovation that lies at the heart of this book. Following are three
examples.
10
Information from J.H. Williams, who wrote to us saying: "As a point of interest my
personal research has shown that millet growth varied tenfold as a result of manipulation
of soil surface temperature by 6°C (I used shading techniques), but the same manipulation
allowed maize to grow in 40°C air temperatures as well!"
11
More information on this most interesting grass can be found in the companion
volume Vetiver: a Thin Green Line Against Erosion. For a list of BOSTID reports, see
page 377.
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Cropping Systems
Subsistence pearl millets are essential components of traditional agricultural
systems. They are usually intercropped with cereals such as sorghum and maize
or with legumes such as cowpea or peanut. To most farmers, the combined
production is more important than the yield from either crop by itself. This mixed
cropping is difficult for today's researchers to deal with, but there are some
interesting developments. One is dwarfing.
To reduce the size of a cereal plant is a common strategy (see next chapter).
It provides a compact plant that is more resilient, easier to handle, and higher
yielding. In the case of subsistence pearl millets, however, dwarfing is done not
for such a yield advantage. Researchers have found that simply reducing the
plant height can contribute greatly to the associated cowpea and other low-
growing legumes.
12
The millet no longer shades its shorter companion, which,
with the increased photosynthesis, results in better yields. Initial results in Niger
are quite encouraging. Farmers there have adopted dwarf millets eagerly.
Building Tilth
The soil under subsistence pearl millet is usually coarse textured, containing
at least 65 percent sand. Such porous sites are not only poor in fertility, they are
very poor at holding water. Any rain that does fall tends to drain away below the
reach of the roots. Ways to keep it in the root zone would bring marked benefits,
both in the crop's yield and its reliability.
It has been found, for example, that leaving crop residues in the field
dramatically raises pearl millet yields in West Africa's deteriorating semiarid
areas. In three recent trials, grain yields rose by 300, 450, and 550 percent,
respectively. The residues not only increased the sandy soil's moisture-holding
capacity, they also lowered soil temperatures and boosted fertility.
13
Biological Fertilization
The areas where subsistence pearl millet is prevalent are usually so remote
and so poverty stricken that despite the soil's barrenness commercial fertilizer can
seldom, if ever, be used. But all plants, even those as robust as subsistence pearl
millets, need food in the form of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and a few so-
called "micronutrients." How to provide plant foods under subsistence conditions
is one of the
12
Reddy et al., 1990.
13
INTSORMIL Bulletin, 1990.
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PEARL MILLET HELPS NAMIBIA
Namibia's farming lands are among the driest and most unpredictable
to be found. Perhaps for that reason, its farmers rely on mahangu (pearl
millet) to provide the basic foods to keep their families fed. In the north of
the country, where two-thirds of the population live, it is the staple.
In the past, Namibia's farmers could hope to obtain only about 300 kg
of grain per hectarea pitifully small amount. Indeed, production was so low
that the country had to import maize to feed its people.
In 1986, however, the country asked ICRISAT for help, and 50 highly
productive varieties were brought in and planted out for testing. In March
1987, at the new nation's first "Farmers' Field Day," approximately 100
farmers came to see the results. The variety Okashana 1 proved particularly
impressive even though the rainfall that season had been only 170 mm (but
well distributed). Namibia then requested 200 kg of Okashana 1 seed for
multiplication, large-scale testing, and demonstration to farmers. At the
March 1988 Farmers' Field Day, 250 visitors showed up to buy Okashana
seed. A year later, more than 500 farmers came, and they bought about 4
tons of the seed.
Since this new variety's arrival, Namibia's farmers have reaped bumper
harvests. Even using traditional cultivation practices, they doubled their
yields. But those who employed better methods obtained yields of 2.4 tons
per hectare, about eight times the traditional amount.
Okashana 1 results from intensive plant breeding at ICRISAT, but it
still retains its rustic resilience and is especially suited to subsistence
farmers' needs. Among its characteristics are high grain yield, large seed
size, early maturity, resistance to downy mildew, and ability to mature grain
even when end-of-season droughts rob the plants of moisture.
According to Wolfgang Lechner, of the Mahanene Research Station at
Oshkati, more than half of Namibia's pearl-millet farmers now grow the new
variety. "Okashana 1 gives a light-colored flour that is highly acceptable,"
Lechner explains. "With this and the increased yields, within a couple of
years the country may not have to rely on maize imports any more. That
will save us a lot of valuable foreign exchange.''
PEARL MILLET: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 108
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greatest of all agronomic challengesnot just for Africa and not just for
pearl millet.
In certain places, deposits of rock phosphate have been located. This almost
insoluble phosphorus-containing mineral has seldom been tapped for fertilizer in
the past. But it is potentially a major source of phosphate for regions in
extremity. Unlike standard soluble fertilizers, it doesn't provide an instant jolt of
good nutrition, but it is nonetheless a most valuable source of a prime nutrient
that plants need to remain healthy, robust, and high yielding. Certain parts of
West Africa have deposits of rock phosphate that could be tapped for this
purpose.
For providing nitrogen to a subsistence farmer's crops, probably nothing is
more practical than biological sources. Nitrogen can be obtained in this way by:
Incorporating crop residues or animal manures into the soil;
Using leguminous food plants (such as cowpea or peanuts) in crop
rotations;
Intercropping with herbaceous soil-building legumes such as stylosanthes
or macroptilium; or
Incorporating nitrogen-fixing tree species such as Acacia albida into the
fields.
14
With pearl millet there is also the potential to get nitrogen directly from a
beneficial microorganism that can live on its roots. Such nitrogen-fixing
symbioses between a plant and a microbe are characteristic of many legumes, but
of only a few grasses. Pearl millet is one of those few. It benefits from a
nitrogen-fixing bacterium called azospirillum. Recent trials in Maharashtra,
India, have shown that when pearl millet plants were inoculated with
azospirillum, the yield of both grain and fodder was significantly increased.
15
14
This very interesting African tree, which can add nitrogen to the cropping system and
also provide important windbreak effects, is described in the companion report Tropical
Legumnes. For a list of BOSTID reports, see page 377.
15
A.S. Jadhav, A.A. Shaikh, A.B. Shinde, and G. Harinarayana. 1990. Effects of growth
hormones, biofertilizer and micronutrients on the yield of pearl millet. Journal of
Maharashtra Agricultural Universities 15(2): 159-161.
PEARL MILLET: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 109
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6
Pearl Millet: Commercial Types
Although it is one of the best means for sustaining life in the most desolate
and difficult parts of the farming world, pearl millet also grows well under
pampered conditionsunder irrigation and in equable climes, for example.
Because this fact is not widely known, most people dismiss pearl millet as a crop
for good lands, pointing out that its low yield, low harvest index, and generally
low fertilizer response mean that it cannot match the better known cereals under
high-tech management.
However, it is far too early to dismiss pearl millet as a crop for regions that
now grow modern maize and wheat and rice. The plant, as we have said earlier,
has remarkable qualities, and some of its environmental resilience happens to be
of the type that Latin America, North America, Australia, Europe, and others may
soon need desperately. Moreover, pearl millet is no longer a rustic relic. Hybrids
and other advanced forms are coming available for worldwide use. The old
impressions no longer hold.
In fact, a new vision of this ancient crop's potential is becoming clearer from
research in the United States, where pearl millet is already exciting increasing
interest (see box, page 114). Indeed, fast-maturing types that ripen grain in as few
as 90 days after planting and can be harvested by giant combines are now viewed
as important resources for a vast belt spanning the nation from the Carolinas to
Colorado.
This recognition is starting a new era in pearl millet production. For almost
the first time the crop is being seriously investigated with sophisticated methods
in the world's finest research facilities. Male-sterile forms, dwarfs, hybrids, and
even some very unusual hybrids that produce fertile seed, have all recently been
created. So far (at least in the United States), the emphasis has been on producing
pearl millet as a feed grainand with excellent reason: in U.S. Department of
Agriculture trials, beef cattle, young pigs, and poultry fed pearl millet grain have
grown as well as (or better than) those eating maize (see box).
More and more, however, America's pearl millet proponents are
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 111
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realizing that they have in their hands a potential new food grain for the nation
and for the world.
There are good reasons for that assumption. Despite the current widespread
notion that pearl millet is a second-rate cereal, the plant actually has a high
potential growth ratehigher even than sorghum. Like maize and sorghum, it has
the super-efficient C
4
photosynthesis. Some types mature very fast and can
produce two or even three generations a year if conditions permit. And there are
other advantages as well. Pearl millet is, for example, "a plant-breeder's dream"
and can be developed quickly into numerous and widely different forms (see
box, page 122). It is a cross-pollinating species on which several different
breeding methods can be successfully employed. And, by a strange twist of
genetic luck, it can also be easily inbred.
In terms of large-scale commercial production, therefore, this crop is poised
for revolutionary advances. It stands at about the point maize did in the 1930s.
Hybrids are known but are not in widespread use; yields are only a fraction of
what they might be; and although the basic understanding of the crop's
physiology and genetics is still rudimentary, it is beginning to become clear.
Seizing the opportunity now could propel pearl millet (like maize since the
1930s) to far higher levels of productivity by using the best of modern
techniques. Indeed, pearl millet might well result in a similar leap in food
production in many new areas.
1
Reasons for thinking this are not hard to find. The world's drylands are faced
with an increasingly serious food crisis. Already this is becoming clear in the
Middle East. For example, in 1989 Syria's parliamentary speaker announced at a
meeting called to discuss Arab development and population problems that, unless
the Arab world produces more food, one-third of its people will face starvation.
2
In such places the world's most drought- and heat-tolerant cereal obviously has
vital promise.
All in all, then, this plant's adaptability to both good and bad conditions
makes it a potentially outstanding food crop for vast areas of a "greenhouse-
afflicted" world where climates may change wildly from decade to decade or
even from year to year, and where more and more people must obtain food from
hot, dry soils.
The chances for boosting pearl millet's productivity and usefulness are
good, but the improvements may not come rapidly. To make the
1
The increase in food supplies resulting from the creation of hybrid maize is considered
to be a triumph second only to that of the Green Revolution (based on wheat and rice) in
Asia in the 1960s and 1970s.
2
"Danger is moving fast and if we do not . . . face it seriously and sincerely we will
never be able to overcome the crisis," said Speaker Abdel-Qader Qaddoura, who noted
that Arab food consumption was increasing by 7 percent per year, while production was
increasing by only a little over 2 percent.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 112
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crop a modern and globally useful food resource, varieties with large, dense,
spherical, light-colored kernels that taste good are needed. In addition, improved
dehulling characteristics are vital if pearl millet is going to be employed in human
foods on a truly wide scale.
Eventually, all of these and more seem likely to come about, as can be seen
from the following promising lines of development.
HIGH-GRAIN TYPES
The worldwide cereal-breeding advances of the last 100 years have
increased rice, wheat, and maize yields dramatically, but, contrary to popular
perception, the plants still produce about the same amount of growth (that is,
their overall dry matter is largely unchanged). Yields have risen because the
plants were reconfigured to reduce the proportion of stems and leaves and
increase the proportion of seeds. Usually, this meant reducing the plant height,
but sometimes it also meant increasing the number of seedheads per plant.
Such rearranged plants have been the key to the remarkable jump in cereal
yields that have occurred in most parts of the world. They respond well to good
management; they make it possible to use fertilizer and other inputs profitably;
and they create an upward spiral of yield and income that goes far beyond food
production alone. For example, they help farmers to rest part of their land to
restore its physical condition and fertility.
As of now, however, Africa's pearl millets are not of the rearranged type.
After centuries of trying to stretch their heads above the rampant weeds, they are
too tall for maximum grain production. In creating excess stalk, they are
consuming energy and moisture that could be used to develop more grain.
3
Also,
they cannot fully enjoy the benefits of fertilizer because it makes the plants top-
heavy so that rain or wind can easily topple them into the dirt. Paradoxically,
more fertilizer can mean less yield.
This was the situation of Mexico's wheats before the 1950s when genes
from Japanese dwarf varieties helped create short, strong-stemmed plants that
could hold their heavy heads up during lashing winds and pounding storms.
Strengthening the plant's architecture allowed fertilizer to work to the fullest
benefit and was a prime component of the wheats that generated the Green
Revolution.
A similar transformation is now occurring with pearl millet. Strong-stemmed
dwarf types are being put to use for the first time. Such types have already been
developed in the United States, for example. Yields of 4,480 kg per hectare have
been achieved on research stations, and demonstration plots on farms in 1991
yielded 3,024 kg per hectare.
3
We are of course focusing here on the interests of the farmer whose main goal is to
produce grain. For many subsistence farmers, the stalk is also an important resource.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 113
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MILLET IN THE USA
Although pearl millet has long been grown in the United States, few
Americans have ever heard of it. That may soon change, however. A
number of pioneering researchers see this crop as a valuable grain for the
nation. High-yielding cultivars are being selected and bred; even hybrids
have been created (see page 119). However, owing to an oversupply of
food, pearl millet is currently being developed mainly as a way to feed
animals. Recent results have indicated that it has exceptional promise for
the American livestock industry.
Part of the research has been done in Nebraska and Kansas, where
the plant's tolerance of drought and acid soils, its resistance to pests, as
well as its low requirements for nitrogen fertilizer, make it a potential boon to
farmers. The experiments showed the plant could fit into multiple cropping
systems for the Great Plains region.
Pearl millet might be used as a quality-protein grain for many
livestock-feeding purposes. Compared with maize, it had higher crude
protein and ether-extract concentrations, as well as higher concentrations
of all essential amino acids. Already, it is showing promise for feeding both
poultry and cattle.
Poultry
Trials in different parts of Georgia have shown that pearl millet grain
can fully replace maize in chick rations. It neither reduced the feed-
conversion efficiency nor the rate of weight gain. Indeed, chickens eating
pearl millet actually grew faster and healthier than those eating maize,
sorghum, triticale, or wheat.
This was an important discovery because although maize is the
Southeast's main poultry feed, it grows poorly there and the local poultry
industry has to import maize from the Midwestern states. Some observers
now conclude that as transportation costs increase, locally grown pearl
millet could soon replace the imported maize as the poultry feed of choice.
Several other areas of the country where maize is difficult to grow seem
likely to switch over as well.
Cattle
Metabolism and feedlot trials in both the Midwest and the Southeast
have shown that pearl millet is also good for feeding
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 114
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Plainview, Texas, 1992. Hybrid pearl millet being harvested. In both the
Southeast (mainly Georgia) and Midwest (Kansas and Nebraska) hybrid pearl
millets have been created. At about I m tall, they are half the normal height and
can be harvested by combine. Big improvements in production have been
achieved; grain yields of 3,000 kg per hectare are not uncommon. Commercial
varieties, like the one shown, have been released for farm use. (M. Marley)
cattle. The grain's oil content, which is more than twice that of maize or
sorghum, gives it a relatively high energy density. Pearl millet has also
proved potentially useful as a source of protein.* Compared with maize, it
had higher concentrations of both crude protein (about 14 percent of the dry
matter) and essential amino acids.
* Christensen et al., 1984.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 115
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TEMPERATE-ZONE TYPES
Traditionally, pearl millet has been grown within about 30
°
of the equator,
but these days certain types are already growing each year in various parts of the
United Statesin Georgia, Kansas, and Missouri, for examplethat are far
from the equator. Moreover, although the plant is almost synonymous with
drought and deserts, it is also growing well in mild and humid locations such as
the sandy coastal plains of south Georgia and Alabama.
In these temperate areas of America, pearl millet is potentially invaluable as a
summer annual grain crop. Maize is poorly adapted to this region where its own
shallow roots (blocked by the acid subsoils) and the common summer droughts
result in low yields. Hybrid pearl millet develops deep root systems in these acid
soils, resulting in much more dependable yields. Pearl millet also resists midges
and the lesser cornstalk borer, two insects that severely affect sorghum.
Moreover, no aflatoxin problems have been observed with pearl millet.
In addition, pearl millet is giving the farmers in the Southeast undreamed of
flexibility. Whereas maize must be planted within a two-week window in April,
pearl millet can be planted at any time between April and July. This means that it
can skirt the hazards of summer and still mature a crop before winter chills cut
off all growth.
EARLY TYPES
A driving force behind U.S. pearl millet research is the chance that pearl
millet might make double-cropping possible. This is now approaching reality.
Rapidly maturing cultivars are soon to be released, and these are the types now
seen as promising for the belt stretching from the Carolinas to Colorado. Planted
in spring, just after the winter wheat has been harvested, they can ripen a crop
before autumn, when the next winter-wheat crop needs to be planted. Key to this
rotation is pearl millet's inherent ability to tolerate heat as well as drought. The
plant survives and yields grain even during the sweltering summer and on the
(often meager) moisture left unused in the soil by the preceding wheat crop. No
other cereal can do that.
The global value of such precocious pearl millets could be substantial.
TROPICAL TYPES
Although pearl millet is the quintessential dryland cereal, it is also found in
some of Africa's wet and humid tropical zones. Much pearl
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millet is grown, for example, in relatively high rainfall areas of Ghana. The types
there are entirely different from those of West Africa's nearby dry zone. In
general, they have seedheads (spikes) that are shorter and fatter; grains that are
bigger, rounder, and whiter; and plants that mature much earlier. These
differences are so conspicuous that the plants were previously classified as a
separate species.
4
Such types there have been little studied or appreciated by the world at
large. Yet they appear to be promising in their own right and are good sources of
genes for earliness and large grain size.
5
The potential of pearl millet for the tropics can be seen in Ghana, where
early millet is extremely important to rural people. The type grown there normally
matures at the peak of the rainy season, a time when farmers have exhausted their
food stocks from the previous harvest. At first, they gather pearl millet when the
grains are in the dough stage and are soft and sweet. Usually, the freshly
harvested heads are steamed, threshed, and dried. This processthe exact reverse
of normal practiceprobably makes it possible to recover the immature grains
that would otherwise turn to mush when threshed.
6
SUGARY TYPES
In India, as in Ghana (see above), pearl millet is sometimes roasted and
consumed like sweet corn. Here, too, the grain is harvested in the milk or dough
stage. This is a facet of pearl millet that has received little (if any) investigation.
Yet it is reminiscent of the situation with maize a century or so ago. At that time
the practice of eating maize grain in the soft, sweet, doughy stage was known
only to a few Indian children and perhaps some adventurous farmers.
7
Today,
"sweet corn" is a major food of North America, and a huge research effort has
been expended on selecting strains whose grains convert sugar to starch only
slowly so that they stay sweet. Canned sweet corn is in fact America's favorite
preserved vegetable and has been outselling all the others since World War I.
Pearl millet, too, should have a big future as a sweet treat to be eaten more
like a vegetable than a cereal.
4
Pennisetum gambiense Stapf & Hubb. Today, however, they are considered to belong
to race globosum of Pennisetum glaucum native to Ghana, Togo, Benin.
5
Appa Rao et al., 1982.
6
This is a fascinating tradition, well worthy of study and emulation. See section on
parboiling, page 301.
7
Sweet corn was not seen by the first colonists who reached North America, and when
it was found in a valley in central New York in 1799 it was not appreciated at first. Some
was planted along the coast but evoked no particular interest. Sweet corn began to be
cultivated widely only after the Civil War (that is, in the 1860s).
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POPPING TYPES
In India pearl millet is commonly popped. Dry grains sprinkled onto hot
sand burst like popcorn. The pops are sometimes eaten with powdered sugar or
brown sugar (jaggery).
The types that pop best have been given little or no special study. But
popping is a promising method for bettering this crop (see Appendix C, page
297) and should be investigated further. Select types with round grains and
impervious seed coats (so that the steam building up inside can reach the
explosive levels necessary for good popping) will probably prove best.
LIGHT-COLORED TYPES
Although most of the pearl millets so far grown are tan or brown, white-
grained types for the large-scale commercial production of food for people are
now under development. These are attractive to look at and are sweet to the taste.
Some have high protein contents. Also known are some yellow-grained pearl
millets that are rich in carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. So far, however, they
have been little appreciated.
EASY-PROCESSING TYPES
As noted earlier, pearl millet is among the more difficult grains to prepare.
For one thing, the whole grain (caryopsis) contains a high proportion of germ.
But more important, the germ is embedded inside the kernel and is difficult to
remove. It is for this reason that traditional hand decortication often produces low
yields of flour (not to mention its tendency to go rancid during storage).
The need for cultivars with improved dehulling properties is critical. Indeed,
varieties with large, spherical, uniform, hard kernels that produce high milling
yields already exist, but have not been documented systematically or brought into
large-scale commercial production.
When pearl millets are processed into food products, there will be a need for
larger supplies of more uniform grain with desirable milling properties and
acceptable flavor, color, and keeping properties.
CUISINE-SPECIFIC TYPES
Most of the world's cereal breeding is done with foods such as bread, cakes,
cookies, crackers, canelloni, or various breakfast
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 118
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concoctions in mind. But for pearl millet to sell in a big way in Africa it must be
good for very different foods. In Africa (as well as in India), the major pearl
millet foods are unfermented bread, fermented breads, thick and thin porridges,
steam-cooked products, beverages, and snacks. Little or no information is
currently available on which pearl millets have the best properties for each of
these foods. This is a handicap. Undoubtedly, superior types exist and collections
and investigations should be made in the houses of the users themselves. As we
have said in the previous chapter, however, it is difficult to quantify, let alone
breed for, the organoleptic properties of certain foodstuffs.
QUALITY-NUTRITION TYPES
Contrary to general opinion and oft-repeated statements in textbooks, pearl
millet is one of the more nutritious of the common cereals. As has been noted, its
grain has more fat than most, and its level of food energy (784 kilocalories per
kg) is among the highest for whole-grain cereals. It also has more protein, and its
level of the essential amino acid lysine is better than in most cereals.
However, some pearl millet grain may suffer (nutritionally speaking)
because it is low in threonine and the sulfur-containing amino acids. Also, its
lysine level could still be improved. Of course, the other major grains have the
same defect, but in the last few decades high-lysine types have been found in
maize, sorghum, and barley. It seems likely that a diligent search through the
world's pearl millets with an amino-acid analyzer could disclose something
similar.
HYBRIDS
As already mentioned, the development of maize hybrids in the 1930s led to a
quadrupling of yields. A similar breakthrough, allowing the practical production
of pearl millet hybrids, came in the late 1960s, when the first hybrids were
created.
8
High-yielding, hybrids have been in use in India since 1966. Heterosis
(hybrid vigor) in pearl millet can be substantial.
9
Indian scientists have succeeded
in developing hybrids that can almost double the yield of local cultivars.
10
8
These were developed in the United States by Glenn Burton.
9
Naturally, the types used to make the hybrid must be genetically diverse. The common
finding that the hybrids show no increase in vigor apparently is owing to the fact that the
types crossed were too closely related. Information from W. Hanna.
10
In India, hybrid millets are used almost exclusively in irrigated farming. The yields
can be spectacular, but they are not relevant to most of Africa's pearl millet production.
Even in India, dryland farmers still use the nonhybrid forms.
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Today, hybrid pearl millets are being planted in Kansas and Georgia. They
are half the normal heightonly a meter or so talland are capable of producing
more than 3,000 kg grain per hectare. Their short stature and uniform growth
make them amenable to harvest by combine. Commercial varieties are now being
released to farmers.
11
APOMICTIC TYPES
As is well known, hybrids have the limitation that farmers must buy new
seed every year or so. Although in many countries this is now a routine part of
farming and is seldom constraining, the farmer must be able to buy the seed and
the suppliers must be able to produce enough and deliver it on time for the
planting season. In rural Africa that can be a problem.
Forms of hybrids that maintain their production potential from generation to
generation are being developed in pearl millet (see box, page 123). These forms,
known as apomictic types, are on the verge of being perfected.
TOP-CROSS HYBRIDS
Crop varieties sometimes come to disastrous ends when circumstances
change or a new disease arrives. In the case of hybrids, the disaster can be
particularly severe because creating a replacement is a long and uncertain process
that must start afresh with new genetic material. The whole operation might well
take 10 years or more of diligent and dedicated effort. But plant breeders at the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in
India have developed a strategy to keep pearl millet hybrids going indefinitely,
even when new diseases arise or conditions change.
12
Normally, hybrids are developed using two inbred parents of known and
uniform qualities. ICRISAT's strategy is to replace one parent with an open-
pollinated variety of broad genetic background.
The resulting products, called ''top-cross" hybrids, are now being tested. So
far they have yielded as well as the best of the old hybrids and yet have shown
greater resistance to disease (presumably because they have a wider range of
genes).
11
In Georgia, hybrid seed is produced and sold by a company that raises chickens. It
provides the seed to farmers and contracts to buy their crop. The company's incentive is
that pearl millet makes a better chicken feed than maize and can be grown locally. (As
noted above, summer droughts and acid soils make maize uncompetitive in this corner of
the country.)
12
See Research Contacts for ICRISAT address.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 120
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This is all well and good, but it is in the prevention of future difficulties that
top-cross hybrids really shine. Should one of them ever succumb to disease, plant
breeders can introduce resistance through the open-pollinated parent in just a
generation or two (in, say, not more than 2 years). It is possible, therefore, to keep a
hybrid strong and secure by performing parallel breeding on the open-pollinated
parent as a sort of ongoing genetic preventive maintenance.
The ICRISAT plant breeders are now taking the strategy a stage further and
replacing even the sole remaining inbred parent with a hybrid of broad genetic
background. This means that the resulting hybrid has even more genetic
variability within it. This method helps, too, in reducing the cost of seed
production.
WIDE CROSSES
Pearl millet (that is, Pennisetum glaucum) will hybridize with a few wild
Pennisetum species, some of them very distantly related. Crosses with close
relatives produce fertile hybrids, thus permitting extensive modifications to the
genomes of both. Some hybridization work has already been done involving
napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum ). Pearl millet x napier grass hybrids have
been released for perennial fodder supplies in India. the United States, and
various other nations.
Two wild and weedy subspecies (Pennisetum glaucum subspecies monodii
and Pennisetum glaucum subspecies stenostachyum) also readily cross with pearl
millet. The useful characteristics they can confer include disease- and insect
resistance, genes for fertility restoration of the A
1
cytoplasm, cytoplasmic
diversity, high yield under adverse conditions, apomixis, early maturity, and
many inflorescence and plant morphological characteristics.
Among other possibly useful wild species are Pennisetum squamulatum,
Pennisetum orientale, Pennisetum faccidum, and Pennisetum setaceum.
Pearl millet has also been crossed with species of completely different
genera, including buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris).
13
In an approach that turns normal practice on its head, at least one researcher
is using pearl millet to "improve" its wild relatives. The resulting tough, resilient,
almost-wild Pennisetum hybrids appear useful for stabilizing desertifying
environments, while giving those who live there a chance to get some food.
14
13
Read and Bashaw, 1974.
14
Information from G.F. Chapman.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 121
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GENETIC JEWELS
Pearl millet is not now used as a genetic-research organism, but
potentially it could be one of the best plants for illuminating details of both
traditional and molecular genetics. A by-product from such fundamental
science is likely to be new forms that increase the crop's value for meeting
food needs.
THE PLANT WORLD'S DROSOPHILA
As a tool for investigating genetic interactions, pearl millet has the
promise to rival drosophila, the fruit fly with which researchers have
plumbed the details of animal genetics since the 1930s. Consider the
following.
The pearl millet plant is robust and demands so little space that it can
grow in a 5-cm pot.
It matures so quickly that four generations a year are possible. (Some
genotypes flower just 35 days after planting; others can be induced into
this by employing short daylengths and high temperatures.)
It produces masses of progeny. A single inflorescence can produce
1,000 or more seeds, and a single plant (if unrestrained) can produce 25
or more inflorescences.
Its flowers are small but are ideally set up for genetic manipulation.
Unlike those on most plants, they are receptive to fertilization before
shedding their own pollen; researchers can therefore readily cross-
pollinate a given flower or merely leave it to self-pollinate.
Its chromosomes are large and easy to count.
The plants resulting from cross-pollinations usually grow with pronounced
hybrid vigor, so that the genetic interactions are clear.
There is abundant natural genetic diversity: pearl millet's gene pool
encompasses about 140 species or subspecies belonging to the genus
Pennisetum.
Many genetic states can be obtained. The different Pennisetum species
have chromosome numbers in multiples of x = 5, 7, 8, and 9. For each
of these, there are various ploidy levels, ranging from diploid to octoploid
and beyond. In addition, both annual and perennial species occur. And
there are types that are sexual or apomictic (see below).
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 122
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FATHERLESS GRAINS
Like most plants, pearl millet produces seeds that have the
characteristics of both parents. Certain of its relatives, however, produce
seeds with only their mother's genes. For them, each new generation is
identical to the last.
This situation is known as apomixis. It is not unusual in wild grasses,
but to introduce it into crops has been considered too complicated, too
expensive, or just too far-out. However, all that is now changing. Within the
genus Pennisetum, apomictic types have been located in a number of
species. If their trait for self-replication can be transferred to pearl millet,
profound benefits would result.
For one thing, with apomictic pearl millet the farmer's fields would be
safe from genetic drift. No longer would pollen blowing in from wild and
weedy relatives downgrade the elite varieties. For another, seed from
different apomictic varieties could be mixed, and the farmer would retain the
security of natural diversity as well as the productivity of man-made
varieties.
For a third, apomictic pearl millet hybrids could be propagated by seeds
for an unlimited number of generations without losing their genetic edge.
Farmers would no longer have to buy fresh seed every year to enjoy the
benefits of a hybrid.
The apomictic types of the wild Pennisetum species are not themselves
promising as crops. They produce few seeds and have many weedy
characteristics. But their gene for apomixis can be transferred to the pearl
millet plant. Indeed, significant progress has already been made transferring
this gene from the wild African grass Pennisetum squamulatum to cultivated
pearl millet.* This development could catapult pearl millet into being a
leader in high-tech agriculture.
Progress is being made in finding molecular markers associated with
apomixis. This association will allow researchers in the future to isolate the
gene(s) controlling apomixis and possibly use them to produce true-
breeding hybrids in many crops. Indeed, in this way pearl millet's genes
have the potential to revolutionize food production around the world.
* This work has been performed by Wayne Hanna at the Coastal Plain Experimental Station
in Tifton, Georgia. The full address, as well as a contact for more information on apomixis,
can be found in Appendix G, page 342.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 123
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Recently, researchers in Zimbabwe have crossed pearl millet with 49 different
accessions of napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum). In doing so, they generated
over 200 hybrids between the two near relatives. This was done not to improve
the pearl millet, but to raise the yield and protein content of the napier grass, a
widely used forage. The new hybrids yield 30-40 percent more dry matter but
also 20-40 percent (9 percent versus 11-13 percent) more protein than the forms
presently cultivated by local farmers. (ICRISAT)
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 124
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SWEET-STALK TYPES
At least two grassessugarcane and sweet sorghum (see page 198) produce
stems filled with sugar. Apparently, nobody thought to look for this trait in pearl
millet until the 1980s, when some Indian scientists stumbled on some during a
germplasm-collecting expedition in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
15
In the
area around Coimbatore and Madurai, they found types that at maturity contained
more than twice the normal amount of soluble sugars.
These sweet-stalk types had long narrow leaf blades, profuse nodal tillering
(with asynchronous maturity), short, thin spikes, and very small grains. They
could be easily identified by chewing them at the dough stage.
The sweet-stalk pearl millet is used as a fodder that is usually harvested in
September, and a subsequent ratoon crop can be taken for grain and straw. The
farmers consider them to be superior feedstuffs because livestock love the sweet
stalks.
TYPES OF THE FUTURE
As can be seen from the above, pearl millet contains a wealth of genetic
strengths and offers almost countless opportunities for innovation and
advancement. Eventually, biotechnology could have a huge impact on such a
diverse crop. It could, for example, be used routinely to transfer pieces of DNA
from variety to variety or from the large numbers of wild Pennisetum relatives
(or even from other genera). Probably, it is only a matter of time before
techniques for this (by using vectors or electrophoration, for example) are
developed.
Such transfers are most effective when the crop's protoplasts (wall-less
cells) can be regenerated into whole plants. Although it is not yet possible to
regenerate protoplasts in pearl millet, it is possible to regenerate suspension
cultures (including those of pearl millet x napier grass hybrids) into whole
plants.
16
Perhaps the best way to codify the enormous diversity of this crop is to
create a chromosome map (see box, page 34). This is likely to help make possible
all sorts of advances in pearl millet. The task should be easier than with many
crops. Pearl millet is a diploid with seven fairly large chromosomes and a large
number of genes that are already known and definitively mapped.
15
They include R. Appadurai of Tamil Nadu University, Coimbatore, and S. Appa Rao,
M.H. Mengesha, and V. Subramanian, of ICRISAT. Their first test was to chew on the
stalk. Later, they found that Brix readings can vary from 3 to 16 percent.
16
All information from W.W. Hanna.
PEARL MILLET: COMMERCIAL TYPES 125
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7
Sorghum
To include sorghum in a book on "lost" crops, on the face of it, seems like a
gross mistake. After all, the plant is Africa's contribution to the world's top crops.
1
Indeed, it belongs to the elite handful of plants that collectively provide more than
85 percent of all human energy. Globally, it produces approximately 70 million
metric tons of grain from about 50 million hectares of land. Today, it is the
dietary staple of more than 500 million people in more than 30 countries. Only
rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes surpass it in feeding the human race.
For all that, however, sorghum now receives merely a fraction of the
attention it warrants and produces merely a fraction of what it could. Not only is
it inadequately supported for the world's fifth major crop, it is under-supported
considering its vast and untapped potential. Viewed in this light it is indeed
"lost."
But this situation may not continue much longer. A few researchers already
see that a new and enlightened era is just around the corner. Accorded research
support at a level comparable to that devoted worldwide to wheat or rice or
maize, sorghum could contribute a great deal more to food supplies than it does
at present. And it would contribute most to those regions and peoples in greatest
need. Indeed, if the twentieth century has been the century of wheat, rice, and
maize, the twenty-first could become the century of sorghum.
First, sorghum is a physiological marvel. It can grow in both temperate and
tropical zones. It is among the most photosynthetically efficient plants.
2
It has one
of the highest dry matter accumulation rates. It is one of the quickest maturing
food plants (certain types can mature in as little as 75 days and can provide three
harvests a year).
1
The amount produced is not known for certain because sorghum's production statistics
(at least in some countries) are lumped together with millet's. Annual world production of
the two together exceeds 100 million tons, of which 60 million is certainly sorghum. Based
on the FAO figures for 1985. the number of hectares under sorghum are: Africa, 18
million; Asia, 19 million; North and Central America, 9 million; South America, 3
million. The main grain production (in millions of tons) was in the United States (28.70),
India (10.30), China (an estimated 6.80), Mexico (6.60), Argentina (6.20), the Sudan
(4.25), and Nigeria (3.50).
2
Sorghum uses the C4 "malate" cycle, the most efficient form of photosynthesis. This
fundamental advantage of using sunlight efficiently is found in very few food crops among
the main ones, only sugarcane and maize.
SORGHUM 127
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It also has the highest production of food energy per unit of human or
mechanical energy expended.
3
Second, sorghum thrives on many marginal sites. Its remarkable physiology
makes it one of the toughest of all cereals. It withstands high rainfalleven some
waterlogging.
4
Recent research in Israel has shown that it also has some tolerance
to saltan increasingly useful feature for any crop these days.
5
But most
importantly, it can endure hot and dry conditions. Indeed, it can produce on sites
so burning and arid that no other major grain-with the exception of pearl millet
can be consistently grown.
6
Its massive and deep-penetrating roots are mainly
responsible for this drought tolerance, but the plant has other drought-defying
mechanisms as well. For instance, it apparently conserves moisture by reducing
its transpiration when stressed (by rolling its leaves and possibly by closing the
stomata to reduce evaporation) and it can turn down its metabolic processes and
retreat into near dormancy until the return of the rains.
Third, sorghum is perhaps the world's most versatile crop. Some types are
boiled like rice, some cracked like oats for porridge, some "malted" like barley
for beer, some baked like wheat into flatbreads, and some popped like popcorn
for snacks. A few types have sugary grains and are boiled in the green stage like
sweet corn. The whole plant is often used as forage, hay, or silage. The stems of
some types are used for building, fencing, weaving, broom-making, and
firewood. The stems of other types yield sugar, syrup, and even liquid fuels for
powering vehicles or cooking meals. The living plants are used for windbreaks,
for cover crops, and for staking yams and other heavy climbers. The seeds are fed
to poultry, cattle, and swine. On top of all that, sorghum promises to be a "living
factory." Industrial alcohol, vegetable oil, adhesives, waxes, dyes, sizing for
paper and cloth, and starches for lubricating oil-well drills are just some of the
products that could be obtained.
Fourth, sorghum can be grown in innumerable ways. Most is produced
under rain-fed conditions, some is irrigated, a little is grown by transplanting
seedlings as is done with rice. Like sugarcane, it can also be ratooned (cut down
and allowed to resprout from the roots) to
3
Exceeding even maize silage, sugarcane, and maize grain. Heichel, 1976.
4
At least some sorghums can survive standing in water for several weeks. Growth
resumes when the water recedes.
5
Information from D. Pasternak. Sorghum, however, is not as salt tolerant as several
milletsselection and management will be needed to get good yields under saline
conditions. See companion report. Saline Agriculture, for background on the importance
of salt tolerance. (For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.)
6
In one drought year the maize (corn) crop was so poor in Mitchell, South Dakota, that
the annual "Corn Palace" had to be built out of sorghum. It was a humiliating comedown,
but no maize could be foundonly sorghum had survived.
SORGHUM 128
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provide crop after crop without replanting. It is ideal for subsistence farmers on
the one hand and can be completely mechanized and produced on a vast
commercial scale on the other.
Finally, sorghum is relatively undeveloped. It has a remarkable array of
untapped variability in grain type, plant type, adaptability, and productive
capacity.
7
Indeed, sorghum probably has more undeveloped and underutilized
genetic potential than any other major food crop.
With all these qualities and potentials, it is small wonder that certain
scientists regard sorghum as a crop with a great future. Undoubtedly, as the world
moves towards the time when its supplies of food will be insufficient for its
supplies of people, this plant will increasingly contribute to the happiness of the
human race. This will happen sooner rather than later. Population is projected to
almost double within most of our lifetimes. How to feed billions of newcomers on
diminishing amounts of prime cropland will likely be the overwhelming global
issue of the period just ahead. Obviously, vast amounts of the less fertile and
more difficult lands must be forced to produce food. Moreover, if the much feared
greenhouse effect warms up the world, sorghum could become the crop of choice
over large parts of the areas that are today renowned as breadbaskets, rice lands,
or corn belts.
In sum, it seems certain that no matter what happens sorghum will assume
greater importance, especially to backstop the increasingly beleaguered food
supplies of the tropics and subtropics. For a hot, dry, and overcrowded planet,
this crop will be an ever-more-vital resource.
This is in fact already starting. Despite only modest international support,
sorghum even now seems to be verging on a global breakout. In the United
States, its yield improvements have outstripped those of all other major cereals.
8
In India, it is increasingly employed. And in Mexico, Central America, and the
Caribbeana most unexpected part of the world for this African plantthe most
rapid growth of all is occurring.
Indeed, the rapidity with which Mexico has embraced sorghum is little short
of spectacular. Before 1953, the crop was so little used in Mexico that, as far as
international statistics were concerned, it didn't exist there. However, by 1970 it
was being planted on nearly I million hectares, and by 1980 on nearly 1.5 million
hectares. The reason is a pragmatic one: sorghum is not only cheaper to produce,
it yields about twice as much grain as maize in Mexico (2,924 kg per hectare
versus 1,508 kg per hectare in one recent test). Also, where rainfall is unreliable,
sorghum is proving the more dependable of the two.
7
There is such diversity in this crop that as many as 18 subspecies were once
recognized by botanists.
8
Leng, 1982.
SORGHUM 129
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Mexico uses most of its sorghum grain for animal feed, but it is increasingly
relying on new, food-quality sorghums. These produce grains suitable for making
tortillas, the round flat bread that is Latin America's staple food. In addition,
sorghum is also being used to make breakfast cereals, snacks, starch, sugars, and
other products that currently come from maize. It is even the basis for some
(European-type) beers in Mexico, a country renowned for its brewing skills.
Although these developments demonstrate sorghum's capabilities and
almost certainly portend a coming boom in production throughout much of the
world, much remains to be done before this crop can truly fulfill its international
potential. At present, it has several drawbacks, including the following:
Lack of status. In global terms, sorghum is being held back by the
mistaken prejudice that it is a ''coarse" grain, "animal feed," and "food of
the peasant classes."
Low food value. In its overall nutrient compositionabout 12 percent
protein, 3 percent fat, and 70 percent carbohydratesorghum grain hardly
differs from maize or wheat. However, sorghum has two problems as far
as food quality is concerned. One is tannins, which occur in the seed coats
of brown sorghum grains. When eaten, tannins depress the body's ability
to absorb and use nutritional ingredients such as proteins. Unless the
brown seeds are carefully processed, some tannins remain, and this
reduces their nutritional effectiveness.
The other problem is protein quality, which affects all sorghums, both
brown and white. A large proportion of the protein is prolamine, an
alcohol-soluble protein that has low digestibility in humans.
9
Difficulty in processing. Sorghum is harder to process into an edible form
than wheat, rice, or maize.
Ultimately, none of these drawbacks is a serious barrier to sorghum's
grander future, but each is a drag thatlike a sea anchor in the tide of progress
is holding the crop from its destiny. Moreover, all of them can be overcome, as
the following chapters demonstrate.
This plant's potential is so great that we have devoted the following four
chapters to its various types. The next chapter highlights sorghum's promise for
subsistence farmersthe millions in Africa and Asia (not to mention Latin
America) to whom the plant means life itself. The subsequent chapter highlights
commercial sorghumsthe types that are increasingly grown by farmers who
produce a surplus. The chapter that follows highlights specialty sorghums
unusually promising food
9
The alcohol-soluble fraction makes up about 59 percent of the total protein in normal
sorghum. The amount of this indigestible protein is lower in other cereals.
SORGHUM 130
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The extent to which Africa stands to benefit from sorghum research can be seen
from this map. The crop is perhaps the continent's most widespread and
important staple. Beyond the fact that yields can be raised far above the present
average, sorghum's adaptation to a wide range of ecological conditions is an
enormous asset.
Over the millennia, this ancient food was probably domesticated several times.
At least four major types arose in different places. These are shown. One of the
oldest, the durra (crook-necked) variety, was eaten in Egypt more than 4,000
years ago. Ethiopia is its center of diversity, and durra sorghum is still the staple
food for most of the populace of the Horn of Africa. The region from eastern
Nigeria through Chad and western Sudan is a center of diversity for the caudatum
race. The region from western Nigeria to Senegal gave rise to the guinea race.
The area from Tanzania to South Africa is the center for the kafir race. All of
these separate sorghums have fed countless generations.
SORGHUM 131
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types that are now little known in a global sense but that have outstanding
merits for the future. Finally, there is a chapter on sorghum's promise as a source
of energy as well as on other special qualities that can benefit farms and farmers.
AFRICA'S GIFT TO MEXICO
The rise of sorghum in Mexico has been so spectacular that it has been
called "the country's second Green Revolution." The crop has become the
third largest in terms of area (after maize and beans) as well as in terms of
value (after maize and cotton). Between 1958 and 1980, the number of
hectares sown expanded by almost 1,300 percent and the amount of
sorghum production increased 2,772 percent. More than 1.5 million
hectares of sorghum were sown in 1980more than double the amount of
land planted to wheat, Mexico's first Green Revolution crop. Mexico has
become the sixth largest sorghum-producing country in the world; only the
United States and China used more of this originally African grain.
The fact that sorghum requires less water than maize or wheat is a
significant advantage in Mexico, which has large areas of arid land. This
has been true even in irrigated areas because the government has
sometimes had to limit irrigation water owing to depleted reservoirs. Also,
sorghum is now grown in some areas where irrigation has salinized the
soil. It requires between two and four irrigations per year, compared to
wheat's six or seven. Although average yields per hectare are not as great
as those of wheat, they are substantially higher than those of maize.
At the beginning, most of Mexico's sorghum was grown for animal
feed. Already, this grain forms a substantial part of the diet of all the
chickens, pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats that are raised in the country.
Although the animal feed industry also uses
These divisions are of course arbitrary. They are simply a convenient way to
present the vast range of this plant's possibilities. There are many areas that
overlap and much common ground between the different types, different
purposes, and different users. In addition, major advances specifically in Africa's
sorghum production are likely to come from methods and technologies that are
beyond the scope of the following chapters: from controlling birds, locusts, and
parasitic weeds to new approaches to milling, grain storage, and erosion control.
These are discussed in appendixes A and B.
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Morelos, Mexico. Farmer with his sorghum crop. (D.H. Meckenstock)
maize, barley, wheat bran, soybeans, and other products, sorghum
supplies 74 percent of the raw material used in animal feed in Mexico.
Now, however, more and more food-grain sorghum is being grown (see
box, page 166).
NUTRITION
Like other cereal grains, sorghum is composed of three main parts: seed coat
(pericarp), germ (embryo), and endosperm (storage tissue). The relative
proportions vary, but most sorghum kernels are made up of 6 percent seed coat,
10 percent germ, and 84 percent endosperm.
In its chemical composition, the kernel (in its whole-grain form) is about 70
percent carbohydrate, 12 percent protein, 3 percent fat, 2 percent fiber, and 1.5
percent ash. In other words, it hardly differs from whole-grain maize or wheat.
When the seed coat and germ are separated to leave a stable flour (from the
starchy endosperm), the chemical composition is about 83 percent carbohydrate,
12 percent protein, 0.6 percent fat, 1 percent fiber, and 0.4 percent ash.
The nutritional components are given in the tables and charts (next page),
but some of the details are discussed below.
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Edible portion (g) 100 Cystine 1.3
Moisture (g) 9 Isoleucine 4.0
Food energy (Kc) 356 Leucine 13.5
Carbohydrate (g) 71 Lysine 2.1
Protein (g) 12.0 Methionine 1.3
Fat (g) 3.4 Phenylalanine 4.9
Fiber (g) 2.0 Threonine 3.3
Dietary Fiber (g) 8.3 Tryptophan 1.0
Ash (g) 2.0 Tyrosine 3.1
Vitamin A (RE) 21 Valine 5.0
Thiamin (mg) 0.35
Riboflavin (mg) 0.14
Niacin (mg) 2.8
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.5
Biotin (µg) 7
Pantothenic acid (mg) 1.0
Vitamin C (mg) 0
Calcium (mg) 21
Chloride (mg) 57
Copper (mg) 1.8
Iodine (µg) 29
Iron (mg) 5.7
Magnesium (mg) 140
Phosphorus (mg) 368
Potassium (mg) 220
Sodium (mg)
19
In composition sorghum is similar to maize. Starch is the major
component followed by protein, fat, and fiber. Compared with maize,
however, sorghum generally contains 1 percent less fat and more waxes.
Its complex carbohydrates have properties similar to those from maize.
The protein content is quite variable. The American literature reports
several instances of levels ranging from 8.3 to 15.3 (these were measured
on the milo sorghum that is grown throughout the Midwest). Most samples
fall in the 9 percent protein category and are almost always 1 or 2 percent
higher than in maize.
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However, for human nutrition sorghum protein is "incomplete." It is
deficient in critical amino acids, most importantly lysine. Today's standard
sorghums provide about 45 percent of the recommended lysine
requirement.
Although a primary food for millions of Africans, Asians, and Latin
Americans, sorghum is low in protein digestibility. It must be properly
processed to improve its digestibility. It is perhaps for this reason that much
of Africa's sorghum is subjected to fermentation before it is eaten.
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Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate is the grain's major component, with starch making up from 32
to 79 percent of its weight. The remaining carbohydrates are largely sugars,
which can be quite high in certain rare varieties of sorghum grains.
The starches in most sorghums occur in both polygonal and spherical
granules, ranging in diameter from about to 25µ (average 15µ). Chemically,
the starch is normally made up of 70-80 percent branched amylopectin (a
nongelling type) and 20-30 percent amylose (a gelforming type). However, some
sorghum starches contain as much as 100 percent amylopectin; others, as much as
62 percent amylose.
In its properties, sorghum starch resembles maize starch, and the two can be
used interchangeably in many industrial and feed applications. When boiled with
water, the starch forms an opaque paste of medium viscosity. On cooling, this
paste sets to a rigid, nonreversible gel. The gelatinization temperature ranges from
68
°
to 75
°
.
Protein
Sorghum's protein content is more variable than that in maize and can range
from 7 to 15 percent.
10
In most common cultivars, as mentioned above, the
kernel contains about 12 percent, which is 1-2 percentage points higher than
maize.
The protein's amino-acid composition is much like that of maize protein.
Lysine is the first limiting amino acid, followed by threonine.
11
Tryptophan and
some other amino acids are a little higher than in maize.
The protein contains no gluten. A large proportion of it is prolamine, a
cross-linked form that humans cannot easily digest. In fact, prolamine makes up
about 59 percent of the total protein in normal sorghum. This is higher than in
other major cereals, and it lowers the food value considerably.
In the long term, sorghums that have less prolamine may come available for
routine use. A few of these more nutritious types have already been found: two in
Ethiopia (see page 181) and one in the Sudan (page 183), for instance. Until such
quality-protein sorghums are perfected, however, sorghum grain needs to be
processed if its full protein value is to be realized.
10
As much as 25 percent has been reported, but these appear to have been in seeds from
stressed plants.
11
Lysine provides about 45 percent of the recommended requirement. (5.44 g lysine per
100 g protein) FAO/WHO (1973).
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Fat
Generally, sorghum contains about I percent less fat than maize. Free lipids
make up 2-4 percent of the grain and bound lipids 0.1-0.5 percent. The oil's
properties are similar to those of maize oil. In other words, the fatty acids are
highly unsaturated. Oleic and linoleic acids account for 76 percent of the total.
Vitamins
Compared to maize, sorghum contains higher levels of the B vitamins
pantothenic acid, niacin, folate, and biotin; similar levels of riboflavin and
pyridoxine; and lower levels of vitamin A (carotene). Most B vitamins are located
in the germ.
Pellagraa disease caused by too little niacin in the dietis endemic among
certain sorghum eaters (as it is among some maize eaters).
Minerals
The grain's ash content ranges from about I to 2 percent. As in most cereals,
potassium and phosphorus are the major minerals. The calcium and zinc levels
tend to be low. Sorghum has been reported to be a good source of more than 20
micronutrients.
Nutritional Concerns
Recently, the status of sorghum's future as a global food was thrown into
disarray by nutritional experiments conducted on malnourished children in Peru.
The conclusion was reached that sorghum was "unfit for human consumption."
Part of the problem was due to the fact that the samples used in Peru came
from milled flour (comprising only the grain's endosperm) and they were merely
boiled into porridge and fed directly. In Africa, by contrast, the whole grain is
ground up (so that the protein- and vitamin-rich germ is also included) and often
some form of fermentation is also employed.
At the heart of the issue of sorghum's nutritive effectiveness is the above-
mentioned fact that almost 60 percent of the protein is in the highly cross-linked
form called prolamine. Human digestive enzymes are unable to break up this
indigestible protein. Even bodies desperately in need of more muscle, enzymes,
blood, and brain continue passing prolamine that might otherwise provide the
necessary amino acids.
However, sorghum has a second problem as far as food quality is
concerned. Tannins, which occur in the seed coats of dark-colored sorghum
grains, block the human body's ability to absorb and use
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proteins and other nutritional ingredients. Unless the grain is a low-tannin (yellow
or white) type or unless brown seed coats are carefully removed, some tannins
remain, and this reduces sorghum's nutritional effectiveness.
Yet a third problem is that when sorghum grain is germinated, a cyanogenic
glucoside is formed. In the shoots, enzymes act on this to produce cyanide. This
is a potential hazard only with germinated sorghum, and not with the grain itself.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Name
Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench
Synonyms
Sorghum vulgare Pers., S. drummondii, S. guineense, S. roxburghii, S.
nervosum, S. dochna, S. caffrorum, S. nigricans, S. caudatum, S. durra, S.
cernuum, S. subglabrescens.
Common Names
China: kaoliang
Burma: shallu
East Africa: mtama, shallu, feterita
Egypt: durra
English: chicken corn, guinea corn
India: jola, jowar, jawa, cholam, durra, shallu, bisinga
South Africa: Kafir corn
Sudan: durra, feterita
United States: sorghum, milo, sorgo, sudangrass
West Africa: great millet, guinea corn, feterita
Middle East: milo
Description
Sorghum comes in many types. All, however, are canelike grasses between
50 cm and 6 m tall. Most are annuals; a few are perennials. Their stems are
usually erect and may be dry or juicy. The juice may be either insipid or sweet.
Most have a single stem, but some varieties tiller profusely, sometimes putting up
more than a dozen stems. These extra stems may be produced early or late in the
season. Plants that tiller after the harvest has occurred can be cut back, allowed to
resprout, and grown without replanting (like sugarcane).
Soil permitting, the plant produces a deep tap root (see picture, opposite).
However, a large number of multibranched lateral roots
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For a plant with such a modest leaf area, sorghum's roots are huge. This
underground "survival tool" seeks out moisture deep in the soil, equipping the
crop for good growth in semiarid climates. The resulting ability to yield grain
under dry conditions makes sorghum a crucial tool in the fight against world
hunger. (A.B. Maunder, courtesy DeKalb Plant Genetics)
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occupy the upper soil levels, particularly the top meter. They can spread
laterally up to 1.5 m.
The leaves look much like those of maize. A single plant may have as few as 7
or as many as 24 leaves, according to cultivar. At first they are erect, but later
curve downward. During drought they roll their edges together. Rows of ''motor
cells" in the leaves cause the rolling action and provide this unusual method of
reducing desiccation.
The flower head is usually a compact panicle. Each carries two types of
flowers: one type has no stalk (sessile) and has both male and female parts
(perfect); the other is stalked (pedicellate) and is usually male (staminate).
Pollination is by wind, but self-pollination is the rule. The degree of cross-
pollination depends on both the amount of wind and the panicle type, open heads
being more liable to cross-pollination than compact ones.
Grains are smaller than those of maize but have a similar starchy
endosperm. Most are partially covered by husks (glumes). The seed coat varies in
color from pale yellow through purple-brown. Dark-colored types generally taste
bitter because of the tannins in the seed coat. The endosperm is usually white and
floury as in normal maize, but in some types the outer portion is hard and
corneous, as in popcorn.
The crop is always grown from seed. Some seeds show dormancy and will
not germinate for a month or so after harvesting. It is a little-known fact that the
plant can also be propagated by stem cuttings: nodes along the stem have tissues
(primordia) that can produce both roots and sprouts and thereby grow a new
plant.
Sorghum is a diploid (2n = 20).
Distribution
This African crop is now known almost worldwide. Dhows, which have
been crossing the Indian Ocean for some 3,000 years, probably first carried it
away from Africa and took it to India more than 2,000 years ago. It was almost
certainly put on board as seamen's provisions. The sorghums of India are related
to those of the African coast between Somalia and Mozambique.
Sorghum probably traveled overland from India and reached China along the
silk route about 2,000 years ago. It might also have gone by sea directly from
Africa: Chinese seamen reached Africa's east coast more than about 1,000 years
ago (probably in the eighth century AD), and they may well have carried some
seeds home. Cross-pollination with a wild Chinese sorghum
12
seems the most
likely reason why the
12
S. propinquum, a diploid member of the Halepensia group.
SORGHUM 140
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JOWAR
For perhaps 20 centuries, sorghum has been a staple of South Asia.
Today, for example, it occupies at least 20 million hectares in India, more
area than any other food crop except rice. In monetary terms "jowar," as it is
locally called, is perhaps India's third most valuable food plant, exceeded
only by rice and wheat.
Outsiders have often dubbed this African grain "the great millet of
India." And no wonder. Jowar is an important food over much of the
country, and especially in the dry areas of the central and southern states.
Millions of Indians eat it. Some use it like rice, but most jowar is milled into
flour. More or less white in color, this flour is used especially for making
traditional unleavened breads (chapatis ). Usually the whole-grain flour is
employed, but some jowar is also polished to remove the germ and create a
flour with a long shelf life. This can be blended with wheat flour (up to 25
percent) for preparing even Western-style raised breads.
Jowar grain is also malted (germinated), and in this form it finds its way
into various processed products, including beer and baby foods. The grains
of certain varieties pop like popcorn when heated. Indians eat the light and
tasty product directly or as a flavoring in baked goods.
And sorghum feeds more than just India's people: its stalks are a major
source of fodder. According to some reports, nothing can match its
combination of high yield and nutritional quality. Varieties with juicy, sweet
stalks have been developed. Cattle find those particularly delicious.
Perhaps 80 percent of India's cultivated sorghums are those (known as
"durras") that are the dominant type in Ethiopia, North Africa, and along the
Sahara's southern fringes. Many improved strains have been developed.
They are grown mainly in the plains and rely on the summer rains, although
some are grown under irrigation.
Jowar is notably important on the black-cotton soils, which are
notoriously difficult to farm. It is one of the few crops that withstands the
wildly fluctuating water tables that produce bottomless mud in the wet
season and something resembling cracked concrete in the dry. An ability to
extract moisture from deep in the heavy vertisol clay is among the crop's
greatest qualities for India.
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sorghum now found in China (the kaoliang group) has its own distinctive
character.
Broomcorn was first grown in Italy in the 1600s and later spread elsewhere
in southern Europe. This form of sorghum has produced most of the Western
world's brooms and brushes ever since. Today, Mexico is a major producer.
Horticultural Varieties
This crop comes in such an array of widely different types that various
botanists have previously recognized 31 species, 157 varieties, and 571 cultivated
forms. However, these all cross readily and without barriers of sterility or
differences in genetic balance, so it seems preferable to group them into a single
species, Sorghum bicolor. Some botanical authorities also include certain wild
sorghums, designating them as varieties within the species.
The ease with which cultivated sorghums cross with wild species (such as S.
arundinaceum) may be a headache for the taxonomist, but it provides great scope
for the plant breeder. Indeed, to synthesize new cultivars, a vast range of genetic
characters can be brought together in bewildering numbers of combinations. As a
result, many cultivars are recognized in Africa, India, the United States, and
elsewhere, and new ones are being continually produced (see later chapters and
notably page 191).
Environmental Requirements
Sorghum is adapted to a wider range of ecological conditions than perhaps
any other food crop. It is essentially a plant of hot, dry regions but takes cool
weather in stride and may also be grown where rainfall is high and even where
temporary waterlogging can occur.
Daylength
Although many cultivars are insensitive to photoperiod, sorghum is basically
a short-day species. Most traditional varieties differentiate from vegetative to
reproductive growth when daylengths shorten to 12 hours. This switch to
flowering often happens just when the rains diminish, and the crop matures in the
dry season that follows, a feature that greatly helps the farmer. Some of these
traditional forms are extremely susceptible to photoperiod and reach impossible
heights if not planted as daylengths shorten. On the other hand, the dwarf
sorghums of the temperate zone are unaffected by daylength and can be planted
year-round where climates permit.
SORGHUM 142
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Rainfall
Although part of the crop is grown in rainy regions, sorghum is remarkably
drought-resistant and is vitally important where the climate is just too dry for
maize.
Altitude
Sorghum is grown from sea level to above 3,000 m.
Low Temperature
The plant is killed by frost. Optimum growth occurs at about 30°C.
High Temperature
It is essentially a plant of the tropics or subtropics, roughly between 40
°
of
the equator. However, in the United States it is being pushed ever farther into the
cooler latitudes.
Soil Type
Sorghum tolerates an amazing array of soils. It can grow well on heavy
clays, especially the deep-cracking and black cotton soils of the tropics. It is
equally productive on light and sandy soils. It can withstand a range of soil
acidities (from pH 5.0-8.5) and tolerates salinity better than maize.
Sweet Sorghum
SORGHUM 143
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8
Sorghum: Subsistence Types
Of all Africa's cereal grains, sorghum is the most important. It shares top
billing with pearl millet in the drier zones and with maize in the wetter ones. In
fact, Africa devotes more hectares to sorghum and millet than to all other food
crops combined.
And sorghum is more important than the bald figures indicate. It is crucial to a
substantial portion of the millions who coax from their meager and often
declining lands barely enough to sustain life. Manyperhaps mostof those
who grow it could hardly survive without this plant. For them, it provides the
dietary energy and nutrients that make the difference between health and hunger.
Sorghum is vital in this way for the majority of the most poverty-stricken
people in two huge belts that together look like the number 7 superimposed on
the map of sub-Saharan Africa. One beltspanning some 8 degrees of latitude
(from approximately 7° to 15°N)stretches like a giant sash across West Africa
from Senegal to Chad. The other, equally huge, runs north to south covering the
drier areas of eastern and southern Africa from the Sudan to South Africa (see
map, page 131).
The recent past has not been kind to these two vast regionsespecially the
first. To many observers the picture is already bleak and getting bleaker. The
sorghums that provide the subsistence for tens of millions yield on average less
than 700 kg per hectaresometimes much less. Yields have improved little or
not at all in decades. Some observers question whether technology can ever make a
difference.
The reasons are not unclear. Africa's farmers face a formidable web of
interlocking constraints. There are constraints imposed by nature, which seems to
take special delight in bedeviling Africa. There are constraints imposed by society
and tradition. There are constraints imposed by poverty. And there are constraints
imposed by politics, incompetent government, poor roads, and other
infrastructural impediments. Subsistence farmers must somehow survive and
produce their crops within all of them.
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 145
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If the constraints were the same throughout Africa, they might be
manageable; but th ey differ in degree and kind from farmer to farmer, village to
village, valley to valley, and nation to nation. With all these localized and varying
limitations, some people conclude that unified advances of the Green Revolution
type that swept across India and Pakistan in the 1960s are inapplicable. Perhaps a
different approach is needed.
Actually, that approach might come from Africa's own subsistence
sorghums. During thousands of years, farmers have selected varieties to match
their local conditions and food preferences. These traditional types are already
remarkable for their diversity. In Sukumaland in Tanzania, for instance, a single
researcher once counted 109 named cultivarsall of them in common use. In
Samaru, Nigeria, more than 100 local types have been identified. And in the Lake
Turkana area of Kenya there is such a variety of distinctly colored sorghums that
just by looking at a grain, farmers claim that they can identify who grew ita
form of "natural bar-coding" that is said to ensure against theft.
1
For Africa as a
whole, the number of distinct sorghums must range into the many thousands.
Some have been reverently handed down from generation to generation.
2
These traditional sorghums are not only varied, they can have remarkable
qualities. Perhaps centuries of careful observation have gone into their selection.
They incorporate features such as:
Good seedling emergence and strong early root development (to
compensate for the normal brevity of the early rains);
Good tillering (to compensate for erratic early rains as well as shoot-fly
attack);
Long growing cycles (to make best use of infertile soils);
Resistance to insects (particularly headbugs);
Resistance to molds; and
Tolerance of bird pests and striga, a parasitic plant that is an impossible
pest in certain regions.
3
In addition to the agronomic qualities mentioned above, subsistence
sorghums have been carefully selected for features that affect the appearance,
texture, taste, preparation, or shelf life of traditional foodstuffs. They are mostly
grown by women, and are used primarily in the home to prepare local foods.
Traditionally, people consume the grain as a stiff porridge (toh or ugali), a
thin porridge (uji), or in a range of fermented beverages.
1
Information from D.J. Lowe.
2
All this is made possible because sorghum is predominantly self-fertilizing and a given
variety retains its distinctive qualities when it is planted year after year.
3
Both of these troublesome organisms are described in Appendix A.
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Scratching a living in Nigeria's dry northern region, a farmer plants seeds in soil
turned to dust. Sorghum's adaptation to a wide range of such marginal
conditions is an enormous asset in a crowded world. (Lynn R. Johnson)
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Ethiopians form sorghum flour into dough balls that are boiled to form a
staple food (dawa). In Nigeria, a similar type of dumpling as well as a flaked,
dried sorghum-based food are staples. Many people cook the dehulled grain like
rice, or grind it into flour like wheat and make biscuits, cakes, or unleavened
breads. Some make couscous out of it. Sorghum is also important for brewing
native beer or pombe.
As has been noted, Africa has two vast sorghum belts. Surprisingly, the
conditions in each are so different that varieties perfected in one are seldom
useful in the other.
The following conditions prevail in East and southern Africa:
4
Most of the crop is planted as a monoculture and laid out in rows.
The rainy seasons tend to be short and (in most places) to come once a
year.
The plant varieties tend to have shorter stems, tight seedheads (panicles),
and relatively high harvest indexes (the ratio of grain to other tissues).
Birds are often such serious pests that they alone determine what variety is
planted, how it is managed, and what level of inputs is applied (see
Appendix A).
The main striga species (notably in southern Africa) is the Asian type
(Striga asiatica), so that plant breeders can use genes from striga-resistant
Indian sorghums.
Sorghums for brewing and for animal feed are increasingly important.
Both modern varieties and hybrids have been used, at least on a modest
scale, and some types introduced from India have proved extremely
successful.
5
In West Africa, on the other hand, the following conditions apply:
Little of the sorghum is grown in monoculture; most is planted in mixtures
with cowpea, pigeonpea, roselle, and other crops.
The plants are seldom grown in rows, but are scattered randomly and are
often far apart. In the drier parts of this zone the land is neither plowed
nor otherwise prepared before planting, except that it is sometimes
weeded or burned.
The plants tend to be tall and lanky and have a low harvest index.
6
The plants flower toward the end of the rains, thereby helping the grains
escape fungi and sucking bugs, which are prevalent while the rains persist
but disappear during the dry months that follow.
4
Information based on Carr, 1989.
5
In Zimbabwe, for instance, this has led to the release of SVI and SV2, both of which
have considerable promise. In Zambia, some equally useful hybrids are in the pipeline.
6
This is hardly a grave limitation because to most subsistence farmers the stalks are a
vital fodder and no less valuable than the grains.
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The rainfall can be very erratic.
Local sorghums are able to produce grains even when severely stressed by
drought. (The types grown in higher rainfall areas produce dense, vitreous
grains; those grown in dry areas produce floury grains.)
The seeds are borne in open paniclesa feature generally inimical to high
grain yields but one that helps avoid grain molds.
The main striga is Striga hermonthica, a native species. Most of the
striga-resistant sorghums from India or even from eastern Africa are
susceptible to this parasitic pest.
NEXT STEPS
Actions to open the vast and promising future of subsistence sorghums
include those discussed below.
Sharing Varieties7
As noted earlier, truly outstanding sorghums can be found throughout
Africa. Many are exquisitely fitted to specific niches for subsistence farmers.
Much good could be done merely by making these more widely available. Most
are now unknown beyond the valley or village where they are treasured.
Local types are well proven, and moving them within ecological zones could
be a powerful way to improve the long-term stability of farm production. Even
moving them across ecological zones could become important because there may
be increasing climatic change and uncertainty in the future. Farmers now plant
cultivars suited to the existing rainfall pattern. However, if the pattern changes
(as it did in West Africa in the 1970s) then all local cultivars may become
inappropriate. Materials from another area may be the only way to stave off
disaster.
Strengthening Farming Methods
To improve sorghum in subsistence production, research on farming
methods seems likely to yield quicker benefits than research on breeding plants
for higher yield.
8
Some improvements seem simple, obvious, and uncomplicated.
For example:
7
Information from S. Carr.
8
A 4-year on-farm trial in the early 1980s demonstrated that none of the varieties
carefully bred in research trials could outperform local types over all environments when
the trials were conducted in the villages. In fact, despite the worldwide sorghum breeding
done to date, less than 10 percent of Africa's sorghum area is being planted to
nontraditional types from research stations.
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 149
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Burkina Faso. Sorghum farmer inspects his maturing crop. (H.S. Duggal,
courtesy ICRISAT)
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Watering. Studies conducted over the last 20 years in Burkina Faso, for
instance, suggest that a little extra water applied when the grains are
filling profoundly increases grain yield.
Fertilization. In some areas, dramatic rises in sorghum grain yields can
come from providing nutrients to the soil.
9
Legume rotations. Many lands where sorghum grows were infertile to
begin with or are now worn out. Nitrogen-fixing leguminous plants could
well be the key to rejuvenating most such sites.
10
Weed control.
Water-harvesting and other water-conserving techniques.
11
Managing the fields to reduce devastating outbreaks of striga.
Tampering with tradition must be done with caution, however. Some
seemingly obvious improvements can prove detrimental in the long run. For
example, it is not for nothing that West African farmers grow sorghum plants
wide apart. The crop is an excellent scavenger of nutrients and will grow
successfully in soils in which maize fails completely, but it must then have room
to develop large root systems. Typically, agricultural advisers recommend closer
plantings, but where soil fertility is the limiting factor this can reduce the yield.
(Of course, if fertility levels are increased, plant populations can be too.)
Another trap for the unwary is the preparation of the land. There is a strong
interaction between the choice of variety and how the land has been prepared. In
the moister areas, land is cultivated and ridged before planting; elsewhere,
however, the seeds are broadcast onto unprepared ground. ''Improved" varieties
will usually outperform local material only where land is cultivated. Local
varieties, on the other hand, show little response and cultivating the land before
planting can be a waste of time.
Breeding Better Plants
Certain sorghums that yield almost as much as the best grain crops in the
world are known (see next chapter). But for helping the subsistence farmer, an
8,000-kg-per-hectare crop is not a suitable target at the present time. Maximum
yield is usually not the primary
9
Unfortunately, however, most traditional sorghums have a low harvest index, and the
effects of fertilizers can be disappointing compared with those on maize, for example. The
responses vary depending on the poverty of the soil, but in most sorghum-growing areas
of the drier zones the yield increase generally is less than half that for maize and is too
little to attract many farmers at today's grain and fertilizer prices.
10
This subject is covered in a companion report, Tropical Legumes: Resources for the
Future. National Academy of Sciences. 1979. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C.
For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.
11
See companion report More Water for Arid Lands Promising Technologies and
Research Opportunities. National Academy of Sciences. 1974. National Academy Press,
Washington, D.C. For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.
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requirement. Reliability is more important. A yield that can be relied upon year
after year is the primary goal of those whose life depends on their harvests. Thus,
the immediate need is to improve the yield stability, together with whatever yield
increase is compatible with that stability. Average yields of only 1,500 kg per
hectare would double production in Africa (not to mention India).
A "CURE" FOR SORGHUM BORERS
It is often hard to see how to improve on crops and methods that
subsistence farmers have honed to their needs for hundreds or even
thousands of years. However, modern ability to probe deeply into genetics,
entomology, soil science, plant physiology, and other sciences can provide
insights of great potential value. Here is a recent example.
Subsistence farmers value their sorghum stalks so highly that the
grains are sometimes almost a secondary consideration. The stalks are
vital for building houses, for fencing, and for firewood (see page 195). But
there is a risk in employing them. Larvae of the sorghum stem borer
(Busseola fusca) shelter inside. Thus, a farmer who keeps lots of stalks
around is providing a haven for his worst enemy; eventually, the larvae will
turn into adults that will come out in swarms to devastate the next crop.
A Nigerian researcher, A.A. Adesiyun,* has recently been looking into
this long-standing problem. By monitoring the popula
Crop-breeding objectives for stabilizing yields for resource-poor farmers in
Africa include:
Raising pest and disease resistance (see below).
Boosting tolerance to drought, humidity, and other changeable
environmental stresses. (These tolerances, however, are pretty high
already. In many locations it would be better to breed for higher yield at
the existing tolerance levels.)
Improving grain quality, especially those qualities that are important in
storage and processing.
Some of these resistances and tolerances can be bred for outside the local
area. "Hot spots" have been identified for many traits of economic importance.
Midge, for example, is constantly severe at Sierra Talhada in northeast Brazil;
Busseola fusca is severe at Samaru in northern Nigeria. An appropriate network
of national or regional stations in similar areas could provide a powerful method
for screening
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and mobilizing masses of useful local germplasm far more rapidly than at
present.
12
tion inside the stalks he has come to appreciate the features that affect
the pest and can thereby guide farmers on how to keep their stalks and
have good harvests as well.
Naturally, farmers stack the stalks out of weather during the off-
season. Adesiyun has found that this is good for the bugs: in the shade only
20 percent die, and all the rest eventually emerge, eager for more sorghum
to bore into. However, Adesiyun then found that just stacking the stalks out
in the open doubled the number of insects that succumbed. And this was
nothing compared to warming the stalks over a fire or spreading them out
thinly to bake in the sun for 3 days. This killed a whopping 95 percent of the
larvae sheltering inside. The stalks could then be stored safely, even in the
traditional stacks in the shade. Moreover, the "cured" stalks could be used
around the house or the farm with little risk of infecting the fields with hordes
of hungry hoppers.
* Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Samaru, Zaria, Nigeria.
For subsistence use in Africa, it is usually important to breed multipurpose
sorghums. Tall plants may be anathema to a cereal breeder, but to many small-
scale farmers long stalks are resources vital for fencing, thatching, firewood, and
other utilitarian purposes. Those farmers will not switch to a short-stalked type no
matter how high-yielding.
Raising Pest Resistance
Among the traditional sorghums of the tropics are some with good resistance
to foliar diseases and excellent tolerance to most of the indigenous insect pests.
However, to maintain this happy position, research must be continued, especially
on the use of systemic insecticides against borers and shoot-fly.
13
Unfortunately,
the natural resistance is closely related to the amount of phenolic compounds
(particu
12
Information from S. Carr.
13
Extracts from the neem tree are promising in this regard. See the companion report,
Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems. National Research Council. 1992. National
Academy Press, Washington, D.C. For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 153
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larly the condensed tannins), and these compounds make it harder for people to
digest the sorghum grain (see page 179).
THE DILEMMA OF DAYLENGTH
It has been a tenet of modern crop breeding that eliminating sensitivity
to daylength is a good thingthe resulting varieties can be grown at many
latitudes and in different seasons. But West African subsistence farmers
use daylength-sensitive sorghums in an ingenious and sophisticated
manner that helps ensure a harvest even in the shortest and most erratic of
seasons.
The actual week when the rains will start in the Sahel is unpredictable.
The rains may be early, late, or sporadic. However, when the rains will
cease is much more consistent. Unfortunately, though, once the rains have
stopped, the ground rapidly dries out, leaving little chance for more growth.
Thus, although the start of the planting season can vary, the crop must
complete its cycle by the given time when the rains come to an end.
Traditional cultivars in West Africa have been selected to flower a little
before the rains end, no matter whether the rains began early, late, or on
time. The length of day triggers the flowering, not the age of the plant nor
the status of the rains.
Local sorghums have evolved over centuries under those austere and
fluctuating conditions. They fill out quality grains even under the stress of
drought and the boom-and-bust cycles caused by sporadic showers.
Introduced varieties and hybrids, by contrast, are "shocked" by the sudden
onset and extreme stress of a Sahelian dry season. They seem to collapse
physiologically and set floury grains that are useless as food.*
* Information from J.F. Scheuring.
Breeders can also help stabilize yields dramatically by breeding genotypes
tolerant of striga. In fact, this is vital. Any "improved" materials lacking striga
tolerance could be catastrophic to farmers in areas where this parasite is serious. A
striga plant produces tens of thousands of seeds, each of which can remain viable
for a decade or more. If susceptible sorghums are introduced, this terrible pest
could quickly get out of hand and fill the soil with seeds that act like 10-year time
bombs. Luckily, there now seem to be good possibilities for identifying and
breeding striga-resistant types (see Appendix A).
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Improving Bird Resistance
As noted elsewhere, birds prevent farmers from cultivating the most
palatable sorghums in many parts of Africa. Today's bird-resistant types have
seed coats containing tannins, which are both bitter and difficult to digest. If a
more satisfactory solution can be found, it could be an outstanding contribution to
Africa's future, and it would certainly help boost the production of sorghum. New
possibilities have recently been discovered (see Appendix A).
Increasing Mold Resistance
In many parts of Africa, molds that destroy grain in the head (panicle) are
holding sorghum back. If cultivars more resistant to such damage can be found,
then earlier, fast-maturing types could be grown regardless of the humidity during
the harvest period. Also, types with dense panicles (a better yielding and more
efficient form) could be planted where now only quick-drying open-panicle types
are practical. Some strains are inherently resistant to mold regardless of panicle
type; these deserve much greater research attention.
Another, relatively easy, intervention is the treatment of seeds against smuts
that affect the crop in the seedling stage.
Easing the Burden of Handling
The amount of hand labor needed to prepare the land, control the weeds, and
scare away the birds is a serious limit to sorghum production in African
subsistence farming. These are significant barriers to increased production. Thus,
a major issue raised by any innovation is how much hand labor it demands. This
is important to any farmer who has to work the fields by hand. In hoe agriculture
one can literally "work oneself to death" by expending more energy than he or
she gets out of the harvest.
End Use
As already noted, subsistence sorghums are able to meet the complex array
of local requirements. The storage life, processing characteristics, and taste of
toh, ugali, uji, dawa, and other traditional sorghum-based foods are paramount
more important than the absolute level of yield in the field.
Features that affect traditional foods are hard for scientists to quantify and
breed for, especially when the research must be done in centralized research
facilities. Subsistence-sorghum breeding is made
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 155
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Threshing the harvest. (Zefa Picture Library, London)
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 156
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even more difficult by the fact that Africa may have as many sorghum
dishes as it has cooks.
Already, sorghums improved with exotic germplasm have been rejected
because the toh they produced didn't keep its texture long enough. (The starch gel
collapsed overnight.) The sorghum program in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali
currently uses small diagnostic tests to evaluate advanced breeding materials for
toh keeping quality. This approach, by which the plant breeders are directed as
much by food technologists and home economists as by yield in the field, is a
refreshing and much-needed innovation.
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 157
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Sorghum caffrorum
SORGHUM: SUBSISTENCE TYPES 158
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9
Sorghum: Commercial Types
Today in Africa, sorghum is grown mostly for subsistence (see previous
chapter). It feeds farmers and families who seldom, if ever, have any surplus to
sell. But beyond Africa sorghum production is rising, mainly due to farmers who
sell their grain so that others can eat. The United States, Mexico, Honduras, and
Argentina are just some of the nations now taking advantage of this crop's
powerful performance under pampered conditions. Indeed, it is paradoxical that
while Mexico's maize is replacing Africa's sorghum in Africa, in Mexico itself
the opposite is happening: sorghum is replacing maize in many areas (see box,
page 133).
The commercial approach will eventually assist Africa as well. Growing
sorghum the way commercial wheat and maize are grown can produce harvests
of 3,000 rather than 700 kg per hectare. Indeed, the fact that sorghum has vast
untapped commercial potential is important to the future of much of the world.
Large areas in Central Asia, northern and central China, South America, and
Australia have the potential for expanding the production of sorghum as a large-
scale, high-tech competitor of the world's top three grains: wheat, rice, and
maize.
Part of the problem in Africa is that so far sorghum has never been
developed as a major food for urban areas. Lacking markets, it remains a crop of
the small cultivator, consumed largely on the land where it is produced. But this
need notindeed should notcontinue as the sole method of sorghum
production. As with other crops, sorghum deserves the attention that governments
give to any basic food commodity: stockpiling, purchase of surpluses, price
supports, research, and policy support, for instance.
One particular restraint on sorghum has been the lack of processed foods
flour, meal, breads, or other materialsfor use by those who are not farmers and
are not prepared to devote hours of every day making flour from raw grain. The
development of a sorghum-based food-processing industry would do much to
offset Africa's shift in demand toward imported rice and wheat.
SORGHUM: COMMERCIAL TYPES 159
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SORGHUM IN AMERICA
When introduced to the United States in the middle of the last century,
sorghum was first cultivated on the Atlantic coast. By 1900, it had spread as
far west as California. Today, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri are
the leading producers. The crop's value now averages about $1.1 billion
annually. Much is exported. In 1990, the United States shipped 7,239,000
tons of grain sorghumalmost half of all it produced. Japan was the largest
buyer, followed by Mexico.
In the United States itself, grain sorghum is most commonly used as
livestock feed. It is fed to cattle (both beef and dairy), poultry, pigs, lambs,
horses, catfish, and shrimp. The grain has many industrial uses as well. It is
used in foundry-mold sands, charcoal briquets, and oil-well-drilling mud. In
addition, sorghum flour is used in the manufacture of plywood and gypsum
to build houses as well as in the refining process of potash and aluminum.
Some of the ethanol used to fuel American cars is made from grain
sorghum.
Although it can be found from the Carolinas to California, sorghum is grown
primarily in the Great Plains in the center of the United States. (One dot equals
2,000 hectares.)
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Sorghum harvest on the High Plains of Texas. (A.B. Maunder)
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There are good reasons for thinking that this may come about. And soon.
For example, recent research has shown that sorghum grain can be parboiled to
create a fast-cooking, convenient food just as has been done with rice. Also,
various projects are under way to produce sorghum flour for sale in stores. In
fact, in Botswana sorghum meal is already commercially available.
1
Nigeria, too,
is pioneering the processing of locally grown sorghum to replace imported grains
(see box).
By and large, the actions needed to boost commercial farming differ
dramatically from those needed by subsistence farming. Whereas subsistence
farmers may be tied (for reasons of precedent, poverty, environment, or fear of
the unknown) to local varieties, commercial farmers are not. They can use newly
created sorghum varieties, including hybrids and the best of research-facility
results. Their grain is to be sold, probably to markets where the products of
perhaps thousands of other farmers are pooled. In this case, the standard varieties
demanded by the mass market take precedence, and the cash earned by selling
them may pay for fertilizers and other inputs that are beyond the meager means
of subsistence growers.
The evidence is persuasive thatjust as in the cases of wheat, maize, and
ricesorghum responds dramatically to modern technology. For instance,
although subsistence-sorghum yields have remained static at or below 700 kg per
hectare, those of commercial sorghums have jumped like those of the Green
Revolution crops in Asia. In the 1970s for instance, yields from India's rainfed
sorghum increased 50 percent (from 484 to 734 kg per hectare) and Argentina's
rose 55 percent. Irrigated yields are considerably higher: in India, about 1,800 kg
per hectare is common. Hybrid sorghums can achieve even more: 4,5006,500 kg
per hectare are now not unusual yields in the United States, Europe, China, and
on commercial farms in Zimbabwe.
2
In a few cases, sorghum's yield ceiling has been raised to dazzling heights.
For example, yields of 13,000 kg per hectare are being reported under special
conditions in Mexico.
3
In Argentina and the United States 12,000 kg per hectare
have been measured. Farmers in China are said to average 10,000 kg per hectare
in certain areas.
Given such advances, sorghum's total global production may eventually
match that of maize. And perhaps more important, much of the production will be
at sites where maize can barely survive. This will greatly increase the food
available in the world.
1
For information on both parboiling and flour production, see Appendix B.
2
Mean grain yields in the United Statesaround 1,200 kg per hectare before the release
of hybridsare now 4,200 kg per hectare.
3
Vega, 1984.
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The rest of this chapter highlights certain forms of sorghum that could help
this plant reach its ultimate performance outside the confines and constraints of
subsistence farming.
TYPES FOR ALL SEASONS
Sorghum's ultimate promise is perhaps best glimpsed in a research program
in Texas and Puerto Rico. The Sorghum Conversion Project, as it is called, is a
concentrated research effort that has catalyzed much of the present improvement
in sorghum. It changes tall, late, or nonflowering varieties that produce well only
in the tropics into short, early-maturing forms that can be used in many parts of
the world, including the temperate zones. Its materials are already opening new
horizons in sorghum production. Indeed, it is these materials that have led to the
big jump in sorghum production in the United States, Mexico, Central America,
parts of South America, and elsewhere. All in all, the result of this project could
be one of the most significant advances in food production of this era.
In essence, the conversion program has vastly enhanced the source material
available to sorghum breeders. It provides seeds of hundreds of types that are not
only productive and adaptable, but also contain genetic resistance to insects and
diseases and have desirable food qualities. Of the 1,300 lines in the program,
more than 400 have been ''converted" as of 1991.
4
These select lines are being
used to develop gene pools from which breeders can draw genotypes that best fit
their local needs and environments.
This development is described in more detail in the box (see page172).
HYBRIDS
In the 1930s, America's maize yields were static. With the advent of
hybrids, however, yields doubled and redoubled in just two decades. Maize
quickly became not only a food but a "living factory," yielding feeds, sweeteners,
starch, oil, and myriad industrial raw materials. It rose to such importance that
today the U.S. economy would collapse without it.
Sorghum hybrids have much the same inherent potential, as their brief
history shows. The first was produced only in 1957, but the effect was electric.
Within 4 years, almost all American sorghum growers had switched, and the
mean yield nationwide more than doubled from
4
Information from F.R. Miller.
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Texas. Field of hybrid sorghum. America's grain-sorghum production more than quadrupled between the early 1950s and the late 1960s, due
primarily to higher productivity resulting from hybrids. (A.B. Maunder, courtesy DeKalb Plant Genetics)
SORGHUM: COMMERCIAL TYPES 164
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1,280 kg per hectare to 2,750 kg per hectare. Within 10 years, as the hybrids
improved, the yield had more than tripled to reach 3,810 kg per hectare. In a little
over 20 years it had almost quadrupled to reach 4,190 kg per hectare. Seldom has
there been such a rapid increase in grain yields in a cereal crop.
The hybrids were developed by crossing sorghums from southern Africa (the
so-called kafir type) with others from Central Africa (caudatum types). The
benefits come both from the hybrid vigor (which results when widely divergent
strains of an organism are crossbred) and from the fact that the plant's heightened
potentials and profits encouraged farmers to apply fertilizers and pesticides.
Hybrids have produced quantum jumps in production in India and Latin
America as well, but so far, except in the Sudan, Zimbabwe, and South Africa,
they are uncommon in Africa itself. In most of East Africa, for instance, only
5-10 percent of the crop is in the form of hybrids or other improved varieties, and
in West Africa the percentage is even lower. This is not unexpected. Occasional
U.S. hybrids, such as NK 300, prove productive over a wide range of conditions
in Africa, but most do not. Also, most U.S. hybrids were developed for stock-feed
and their grains make poor-quality foods. In addition, they lack the necessary
resistance to striga, a parasitic plant unknown in most sorghum-growing areas of
the United States.
These days, however, hybrids that produce food-quality grain are coming
available. Moreover, it would appear that the problems of poor adaptability and
striga resistance will be overcome. On the face of it, then, hybrid sorghums
produced for sale rather than for subsistence should play a big role in Africa's
future agriculture.
Of course, hybrids are not without drawbacks. They perform best under good
production conditions and good quality control. They are suited only to sites
where seeds and other materials can be readily delivered. (Farmers must purchase
fresh seed for each planting.) Further, it has been found in Nigeria that during the
rainy season the male-sterile plants used in making the hybrid seed are vulnerable
to ergot.
5
Some observers believe that problems such as these make hybrid sorghum
appropriate for only a small part of Africa. This may be true, but as the following
sections show, there are reasons for thinking that large-scale, efficient,
productive, and very profitable sorghum production can indeed become a major
part of Africa's agriculture mix.
5
This fungal disease infects empty florets. It can be overcome by producing seed under
irrigation during the dry season but, at least in West Africa, the areas where this is
practical are limited.
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Honduran Hybrids
The fact that sorghum hybrids can eventually benefit Africa and other
regions is suggested by recent experiences in Central America, where a special
kind of hybrid has been developed for peasant farmers.
Farmers in Honduras have in recent decades planted more than 60,000
hectares of sorghum, but harvested less than 1,000 kg of grain per hectarethe
lowest yield in Central America. This may not be surprising considering that
more than 90 percent is grown on marginal land and the varieties are nondescript
landraces (locally called maicillos criollos).
These "mixed-breed" strains of unknown ancestry are low yielding,
monstrously tall (3-5 m), and late maturing. On face value they should be
replaced. However, the farmers resist. As with peasants everywhere, yield is not
their top priority. The diverse "mongrels" are preferred because they are
dependable. Also, they mature later than maize so that farmers growing the two
crops together have time to harvest both conveniently.
But now a big change is beginning. Now researchers have crossbred
maicillos criollos with elite germplasm from overseas.
6
This has produced new,
souped-up forms of the traditional types, called maicillos mejorados (improved
indigenous varieties) or maicillos enanos (dwarf indigenous varieties). They are
still basically the dependable, convenient types of old, but the new genes have
reduced their height, improved their disease resistance, and increased their
yields.
These slightly renovated rustic relicts, still retaining the qualities that
farmers value, have broken through the yield plateau that for years strangled
greater sorghum production. Improved maicillos (the word means "little maize"
and reflects the fact that sorghum and maize are not too distantly related) yield
24-58 percent more than their ancestors, even when little or no fertilizer is
applied.
A second phase is now beginning. It involves hybrids made by crossing two
local landraces. Although hybrid sorghums have been known for four decades,
they have previously been made by crossing only elite parents. Honduras is
unique in using the local "mongrels" as parents. For purposes of producing the
necessary hybrid seed to sell to farmers, researchers there have created dwarf
lines that can be mechanically harvested using combines. In trials throughout
Honduras the resulting maicillos hybrids have outyielded the traditional landraces
by 100 percent. Some have produced 6,000 kg per hectare under dryland
conditions. The plants are taller than their dwarfed parents
6
The elite materials were from Texas A&M University and ICRISAT and mainly
comprised types developed in the Sorghum Conversion Project. The maicillos criollos
were collected throughout Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
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(because of complementary height genes), and they can still be used in the
traditional maize/sorghum intercropping system.
7
Unlike other new technologies that tend to benefit the affluent and
progressive farmers most,
8
hybrid maicillos are targeted for the poor and less
venturesome. They provide an alternative that may increase yields on perhaps
235,000 hectares throughout Central America. Cost to the farmer? Negligible,
according to the researchers involved. The seed needed to plant a hectare (when
cropped with maize) costs no more than a chicken or two, or about a third of the
cost of a bag of fertilizer.
"Vybrids"
The criticism most commonly aimed at any hybrid crop proposed for poor
farmers is that its seed is worthless for replanting. The fact that farmers must
purchase new seed each year is often seen as a disastrous financial burden. Much
of the criticism has been overemphasized.
9
However, in many developing
countries logistical logjams and supply bottlenecks do make it difficult to produce
hybrid seed and get it to the farmers on time and in good condition.
10
With sorghums, however, there is a distant possibility of having the best of
both worldsto grow hybrids that also produce seed that can be planted. These
so-called "viable hybrids" or "vybrids" are not yet available, but a few sorghum
researchers are hot on their trail.
Vybrids are made possible by the fact that certain rare sorghums are
apomicticthey produce offspring without the male and female gametes fusing.
In other words, their seed arises from a nonfertilized nucleus, and for this reason
each plant produces progeny genetically identical to itself. This special clonal
propagation through seed retains the benefits of hybrid performance while not
requiring a highly developed industry to produce and distribute seed each year.
The theoretical possibility of producing viable hybrids in crops was
discussed as early as the 1930s. Nearly 60 years later, the various
7
Information from D.H. Meckenstock.
8
Although this is a widespread belief, it seems to be true mainly in the initial phase.
After a new technology is established, all farmerseven the pooresteventually benefit.
In fact, despite much rhetoric to the contrary, the poor farmers of Asia benefited more from
the Green Revolution than the rich onesthey got life itself when the widely predicted
famines never materialized.
9
For example, no hybrid can survive in the marketplace unless its improved
performance and the farmer's increased income far outweigh the cost and bother of
purchasing seed. Also, experience in India and in Africa is showing that farmers are fully
prepared to pay as long as the cost is justified by the hybrid's performance. In addition, it
takes very little sorghum seed to plant a hectare. Compared to maize, the cost should be
much less.
10
This, too, is often overemphasized. Hybrid maize is a success in Kenya and Ghana,
for example. However, getting good seed to the right place and on time is likely to remain a
real constraint in most African nations, at least in the near term.
SORGHUM: COMMERCIAL TYPES 167
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SORGHUM BEER
In Africa, as in many parts of the world, brewing uses vast amounts of
grain. However, in Africa the raw materials are sorghum, maize, pearl
millet, and finger millet, not barley, rice, or wheat. Also, the basic process is
unique. African brewing includes a lactic-acid fermentation, known as
souring. And the resulting beverage is something like a fermenting gruel
and has the consistency of malted milk.
Normally called "sorghum beer" or "opaque beer," this drink already
constitutes a considerable part of the diet in many areas, and it will likely
become an ever bigger commodity. With so many people moving into the
cities, it is even now shifting from an exclusively family enterprise to an
industrialized one. In South Africa, for instance, sorghum-beer brewing is
already a highly specialized industry. Annual production is about one billion
liters.
Malting is the first step in brewing this or any type of beer. The grain is
soaked and left to germinate. This activates amylases and other enzymes
that hydrolyze the grain's starch and proteins to sugars and amino acids.
After several days, when germination is complete, the sprouted grains are
dried, ground to a coarse powder, mixed with cold water, and added to a
preparation of ground-up grain that previously has been steeped in boiling
water.* The enzymes continue working, this time turning the new source of
starch into sugar. The souring process also takes place as bacteria act on
part of the sugars to form lactic acid. The producta thin gruel called
"sweet wort"may be drunk after less than a day. Its alcoholic content is
negligible, but it contains some B vitamins and it is often given to children.
If the brewing is continued, various yeasts multiply, and within a day or
so fermentation begins. This produces alcohol, B vitamins, new proteins,
and more lactic acid. The resulting brew is normally drunk after 4 or 5 days.
Suspended particles of starch, yeast, grain, and malt give it the
characteristic milky body. High acidity (resulting from the lactic acid)
prevents the growth of pathogenic microorganisms.
Brewing raises the nutritional value of sorghum. It adds vitamins,
neutralizes most of the tannins, hydrolyzes the starch to more digestible
forms, and increases the availability of minerals and vitamins. South African
studies indicate that iron is 12 times more available in sorghum beer than in a
boiled sorghum gruel; riboflavin may be almost twice and thiamine almost a
third more available; niacin's availability remains unchanged. In principle, 2
liters of
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sorghum beer could supply a person's daily requirement for thiamine
and riboflavin and 40 percent of the requirement for niacin. However, many
of these B vitamins are locked up in the yeast cells and cannot be digested
unless the beer is first boiled. Unfortunately, this is seldom done.
Special varieties of sorghum are maintained for their brewing qualities.
In many places, the dark brown grains are prized. Their most important
characteristic is their high level of amylase activity. They have considerable
potential as substitutes for barley, even for brewing lager-type (European-
style) beers. Nigeria already uses them this way, at least on a semi-
commercial scale.
Recently in South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) developed three shelf-stable brewed-sorghum products: a
pasteurized bottled beer, an aseptically packed still beer, and a wort
concentrate that can be diluted and fermented to produce beer. These are
safe to transport, and can be distributed to remote areas or even exported.
In South Africa, sorghum beer is the basis of a giant company that was
formerly part of a government monopoly but has now been spun off to
African entrepreneurs with amazing success (see box, page 305).
The beer is more than a mere drink. As one writer has stated: "The
whole social system of the people is inextricably linked up with this popular
beverage: the first essential in all festivities, the one incentive to labor, the
first thought in dispensing hospitality, the favorite tribute of subjects to their
chief and almost the only votive offering dedicated to the spirits. Beer is a
common means of exchange or payment for services rendered, and in
times of plenty it is not only freely consumed, but often is the principal or
sole food of many men for days on end. It is evident in all ritual and
ceremonial occasions binding together different groups or individuals and
affecting a reconciliation when things go wrong. With most tribes, harvest
thanksgiving takes the form of beer, preceded by an offering of beer to the
ancestors of the chief."
* Grain for this purpose is usually sorghum or maize, but other grains and even banana are
also widely employed. The boiling water gelatinizes the starch, rendering it readily
hydrolyzable by the malt amylase enzymes.
These beers are safer to drink than water because, at consumption, their pH is between 3
and 4, an acidity level at which no common pathogenic microorganisms grow. However,
sorghum beer is not immune to spoilage; acetic-acid-producing bacteria (as in wine) can
quickly turn it to vinegar.
Information from John R.N. Taylor, Brewing and Beverage Program, CSIR.
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attempts at producing them have resulted in some progress. One notable
success has been in breeding buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris)a native African
species, distantly related to sorghum, that is used as a forage throughout the
tropics. Another has been with forage grasses of the genus Dichanthium
(Bothriochloa).
Work on sorghum apomixis has now reached the stage where apomicts and
vybrids from crosses between them have been formed in research facilities. The
scientists are confident that the vybrids can now be developed for farm use.
Vybrids will benefit more than farmers. For sorghum breeders of all stripes,
vybrids offer exciting potential. Sexual types can be used in the normal way to
develop hybrids with superior characteristics and then induced into apomictic
forms that will retain the new qualities, generation after generation, from then on.
STRIGA-RESISTANT TYPES
One of the tragedies facing Africa is that a parasitic plant is cutting it off
from the wealth of sorghums that have been, or are being, developed in a score of
countries overseas. Indeed, striga is probably the greatest constraint to the
production of foreign sorghums in Africa itself.
Recently, however, researchers have discovered a striga-resistant gene in
sorghum. This could be a big breakthrough. For Africa, it will help open the door
to the truly remarkable types developed in the Americas and China, for instance.
This topic is treated in Appendix A. It is made suddenly more relevant
because a new test has been developed that can determine, within a few days,
whether a certain sorghum (or other species) is resistant to striga. Tests in
laboratories and greenhouses have been most encouraging. Should these results
also prove practical in the field, it could open the way for overcoming the
depredations of this vegetative parasite that victimizes desperately needed food
plants. For the first time the crops will have the means to defend themselves.
DWARFS
The last 40 years have seen dramatic increases in the yields of wheat, rice,
maize, and some other cereals. This has come not from boosting the plants'
overall growth (as most people may think), but from rearranging their
architectures so that the plants are shorter. With less energy going into stalk, more
is left for growing grain. In
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Sorghum researcher, Gebisa Ejeta, examines experimental plots of strigatolerant
cultivar SRN-39 (left) and local cultivars in Niger. The pernicious parasite
occurs only among the striga-susceptible local type (right). Striga-tolerance has
been known in India and East Africa, but SRN-39 is one of the first examples of a
sorghum that can withstand the West African striga species. For more
information on striga and the problems it causes, see Appendix A. page 276. (D.
Rosenow)
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SORGHUM'S MIRACULOUS CONVERSION
At first glance, sorghum seems almost impossibly diverse. Seed banks
hold more than 25,000 samples, all distinct and all able to produce fertile
intercrosses. How to extract from the myriad combinations the particular
ones most useful worldwide is a monumental problem that might seem
beyond the realm of reason. However, remarkable progress is already being
made, thanks to a project that exemplifies how many of the cereals in this
book might be advanced in the future.
In the 1950s, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Joseph Stevens
developed a "blueprint" for systematically enhancing the genetic base of the
world's sorghum crop. Along with several colleagues in the United States
and India, he began assembling, evaluating, characterizing, and classifying
a base collection of sorghum samples. This collaborative effort was carried
out in India and continued into the early 1960s. The Indian government, as
well as dozens of African and Asian countries, contributed their germplasm
and support. Eventually, about 11,000 different sorghums were on hand.
As a first step in sorting useful genetic materials out of the vast sorghum
collection, a unique "shuttle-breeding" procedure was devised. The
breeders produced and grew a first generation of random crossbreeds in
the tropics (mainly at Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) where the days are short.
They collected seeds from a wide range of the most desirable looking
progeny and took them to a temperate zone (Texas) where days are long
during the growing season. There, the seeds were grown out and a new
generation of seeds were gathered again from the most promising
specimens. This dual-latitude screening ensured that the resulting seeds
(and their subsequent generations) could grow and produce grain under
both tropical and temperate conditions.
The next step was to partially refine these genetically diverse
populations. Again, a wide array of different specimens were grown and the
most desirable selected, this time emphasizing short stature and early
maturity. The final result was a cornucopia of various sorghumsall broadly
adaptable to various daylengths, all short in stature, and all early maturing.
Out of the myriad tall, slow, and sensitive types, suitable only for small
farms in the tropics, have come universally useful types for use throughout
the world, on any scale.
Although the resulting plants were selected for basic qualities,
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they were deliberately kept diverse. Now, that welter of gene types is
being fine-tuned to meet the specialized demands of dozens of different
localities. Specific characteristics now being ''custom-designed" include:
Resistance to disease (downy mildew, striga, anthracnose, and smuts)
Resistance to insects (aphids, midges, worms, shootfly, and others)
Resistance to stressful conditions (drought, heat, soil acidity, and
salinity)
Strong stalks (to stop the plants breaking or falling over in wet soil)
Nonsenescence (to keep plants green and functional, even under stress)
Twin-seed (making both florets in the grain-producing spikelet fertile)
Easy threshing
Erect leaves (to increase the amount of sunlight intercepted)
Higher yield (more grains of good size in each seedhead)
Greater root development (to help the plants withstand stresses)
Faster grain filling (to reduce danger from drought and insects)
Resistance to weathering (seeds that do not soften)
Light colors (to make the most widely acceptable food products)
Increased protein content (more than 10 percent)
Superior amino-acid balance (high lysine, in particular)
Improved flavor
Greater digestibility
Expanded diversity for food products (notably specialty types for
convenience foods)
Materials from the sorghum conversion program are already helping
transform this formerly obscure and often scorned grain into a major
contributor to world food supplies. Indeed, their seeds have become
cornerstones for much of the present rise in sorghum production worldwide.
All in all, the Sorghum Conversion Program has become one of the
most successful plant-breeding programs ever; a model of achievement for
crop scientists everywhere and with every crop. It provides populations that
are reservoirs of genes, rather than a single, highly inbred variety.
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technical terms, this is called raising the "harvest index." Thus, 50 years ago
wheat had a harvest index of 32 percent; now it can be as much as 48 percent in
some cultivars. In other words, almost half of the weight of the plant (above
ground) is now grain.
Moreover, reducing the height makes the plants less likely to get top-heavy
and blow over in a summer storm. In addition, the squat, strong plants are more
able to benefit from fertilizer, which otherwise would make them spindly and
top-heavy. And dwarfing not only boosts yields: wherever mechanical harvesting
is practiced, short stature means that the seedheads can be efficiently captured by
combine harvesters so that larger areas can be planted.
So far, only a few of the world's sorghums have had their architecture
refashioned in this way. Nonetheless, an increasing number of short-stalked
sorghums that mature at an even height and can be harvested by combine are
becoming available. Most have been created in North America. Indeed, all of
America's commercial grain types are now dwarfs.
Initially, sorghums in the United States were tall and had a harvest index of
21 or 22 percent (about the same as in the spindly subsistence types now grown in
West Africa), but careful selection, followed by intensive breeding, has reduced
the internode length. Now the harvest index for many improved types used in the
United States, Mexico, and Argentina is 48-52 percent, as high as that of wheat.
Dwarf sorghums have also been created at research stations in Zambia.
These local dwarfs, as well as those from overseas, could eventually usher in a
new era for the continent.
11
CONVENIENCE FOODS
As has been noted, commercial sorghum's major problem in Africa is that
markets for flour and foods are undeveloped. If this were overcome, a large and
healthy trade between a country's own sorghum farmers and its cities could
operate to everyone's benefit. Today, ever-increasing numbers of city folk are
being weaned onto wheat-flour bread and white rice, and any resulting economic
benefits go mostly to farmers and traders a world away. The tragedy is that many
of the city dwellers, especially newcomers, are accustomed to sorghum foods and
would continue to purchase them if they could.
It is not inconceivable that Africa could produce vast amounts of sorghum
flour and sorghum-based processed foods for sale in the cities
11
Information from S. Carr. Dwarf types have also been introduced in West Africa but,
so far at least, have performed poorly.
SORGHUM: COMMERCIAL TYPES 174
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and towns (see Appendix B). This could result in opportunities for much
innovation.
More than 30 years ago, for example, South African researchers developed a
precooked sorghum product. They slurried raw sorghum flour with water and
passed it through a hot roller that both cooked and dried it. The product proved
very palatable and would keep for at least 3 months without deteriorating. Whole
milk or skim milk could be used in place of water, producing a tasty flour rich in
protein, calcium, and phosphorus. Processing costs reportedly were low.
12
This is just one of many approaches by which sorghum might be produced
for urbanized peoples. Many recipes using milled sorghum grits or flour have
already been developed and tested by several universities.
13
And the recent
development of parboiled products from sorghum could open up even more
markets that could benefit millions of Africa's farmers (see Appendix B).
12
Coetzee and Perold, 1958.
13
These include the Home Economics Department at the University of Nairobi and the
Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University (see Research Contacts).
SORGHUM: COMMERCIAL TYPES 175
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10
Sorghum: Specialty Types
Sorghum's range of genetic diversity is truly amazing. Some types look so
abnormal that until recently they were classified as separate species. However, all
of them cross readily with one another, all have a chromosome complement of 2n =
20, and all are recognized today as variants of the same plant, Sorghum bicolor.
1
Many of the unusual types are promising resources in their own right. Some
have properties and uses quite unexpected of a cereal. A few hold out the
possibility of producing far better grains than those of today's major sorghums.
Others could provide entirely new types of sorghum foods. Yet others can yield
feed, forage, fertilizer, fiber, fuel, sugar, and raw materials for factories of many
kinds. In this array of plant types, the vast potential of this remarkable species can
be seen. Examples of promising, but little-known, food types are discussed
below.
POPPING SORGHUMS
In parts of Africa and Asia, sorghums that pop like popcorn can be found.
These have seldom received much scientific or entrepreneurial recognition. There
is probably, however, a huge latent market for them. They make tasty foods, and
they may have worldwide promise. Popping boosts the flavor of sorghum, and it
is energy efficient and nutritionally desirable. (Compared with boiling, for
instance, popping is so rapid that it takes little fuel and it denatures or hydrolyzes
the proteins and vitamins only slightly.)
Popped sorghum is already a favorite in central India, and it is starting to
find favor in several other countries as well. In India, people
1
Synonyms include Sorghum vulgare (for the entire species complex) and Sorghum
caffrorum, Sorghum caudatum, Sorghum conspicuum, Sorghum arundinaceum, Sorghum
dochna, and Sorghum durra (for what are now considered subspecies, or "races"). There
are hundreds of common names. Those in widespread use include: guinea corn, jowar
(India), kaoliang (China), kafir corn, milo (United States), sorgho, and maicillo (Central
America).
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 177
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sprinkle a handful of dry grain onto a bed of hot sand or a hot sheet of metal. The
popped kernels are brushed off as they form. Most are consumed by school
children as a snack. They may be balled with crude sugar (jaggery). They may
also be pounded into a nutty-flavored flour, which is typically mixed with milk
and sugar, buttermilk, salt, or chilies.
A world collection of sorghums is maintained at ICRISAT. Of 3,682
accessions tested, 36 have shown good popping qualities. Most originated in
India. These could be the starting point for breeding popping sorghums on a
scientific basis. Indeed, they could create a new and very tasty food that could
quickly establish itself in most of the 30 or more nations that grow sorghum as a
staplenot to mention in at least that many more nations that now look on
sorghum as "barely fit for cattle."
2
As with popcorn, the best popping types usually have small grains with a
dense, "glassy" (corneous) endosperm that traps steam until the pressure builds to
explosive levels.
VEGETABLE SORGHUMS
In certain countries, sorghum is eaten like sweet corn. The whole seedhead
(panicle) is harvested while the grain is still soft (dough stage). It is roasted over
open coals, and the soft, sweet seeds make a very pleasant food. These strains are
found notably in Maharashtra, India. Like sweet corn, they have sugary
endosperms containing 30 percent glycogen as well as grains that shrivel when
dry. They are a treat for anyone.
This unique method turns sorghum into a vegetable cropmore like
broccoli than like barley. It has so far received little or no serious study from
scientists, but it could be a powerful way to capitalize on the plant's ability to
produce food in sites where most crops fail. The types that perform this way
should be collected, compared, and cultivated in trials. The traditional processes
by which they are used should be analyzed, as should the nutritional value.
Seedheads in the dough stage may have a better-than-expected food value.
VITAMIN-A SORGHUM
In some developing countries a lack of vitamin A in the daily diet blinds
many children. However, certain sorghums with yellow grains
2
Even popcorn was neglected until quite recently. Although it has long been a popular
treat in the United States, only in the last 10 yearssince microwave ovens made it
convenient for the home and officehave modern breeding techniques been applied in
force. Sales have since skyrocketed. The increasing popularity of microwave ovens could
also boost the use of popping sorghums.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 178
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may solve the problem, at least among sorghum-eating societies. The color comes
from xanthophyll and from the carotene pigments that are vitamin-A precursors.
People eating them have a better-than-normal production of vitamin A.
Yellow sorghums are especially well known in Nigeria but probably can be
found elsewhere, too. The carotene levels are typically only a fraction of those
normally found in yellow maize. However, because of poverty or locality,
sorghum eaters often have no chance to vary their diets. Yellow varieties may be
the most practical way to protect their eyesight.
TANNIN-FREE SORGHUMS
Some sorghum types contain invidious ingredients that "lock up" protein and
starch so that a person's body cannot fully get at them. Traditionally, these
ingredients have been called "tannins," although strictly speaking, this is not an
exact term.
3
Many sorghums, especially those now grown in East Africa, are high in
tannins. To a large extent they have been deliberately selected because birds
hardly touch them (see Appendix A). These birds include the queleaa small,
rather nondescript weaverbird that has replaced the locust as the most serious
pest of small-grain crops in parts of Africa. This voracious seed-eater may well
be the most abundant bird species on earth, and its importance as a pest has
increased in recent years despite all the control operations that have been
mounted against it.
4
Today, people can eat the dark-seeded sorghums only if the tannins are first
removed. There are two approaches for getting around this. One is to use the
seeds in processes that neutralize tanninsmaking beer or fermenting the grain
with wood ash are examples.
5
The second relies on the fact that the tannins are
located primarily in the grain's outer layer. Milling this off makes the rest of the
grain edible. This is not easy to do, however, and the seemingly endless task of
pounding seeds with heavy poles causes untold hours of daily drudgery
throughout most of rural Africa. Indeed, it is one of the fundamental barriers to
the wider use of this crop (see Appendix B).
Overcoming the tannin problem would open new possibilities for
3
Recent research has shown that the antinutritional ingredients are more than just the
pigments known as tannins.
4
Quelea remains a threat to crops in Zimbabwe, for instance, even though more than
521.5 million of them were killed in the country between 1972 and 1987 (an average of
32.6 million a year).
5
Information on the wood-ash treatment is from G. Graham, who noticed that
campesinos in Peru had developed it as a way to make sorghum more palatable.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 179
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sorghum as a world food grain. Research in the 1980s has demonstrated that the
genes controlling tannin production can be reduced through crossbreeding.
Tannins can be eliminated or at least reduced to negligible quantities. White-
seeded, tannin-free types are known and are particularly promising for the future.
BIRD-RESISTANT SORGHUMS
Removing tannins makes sorghum a far better food for humans, but in parts
of Africa, unfortunately, it would seem also to be good for the birds. However,
some white-seeded types that are both tannin free and shunned by birds are
already available.
Two sorghums that are bird resistant and free of tannin were identified in
1989.
6
These two genotypes (Ark 1097 and a Brazilian hybrid) were assayed and
found to contain absolutely no tannin throughout the whole time their seeds were
developing. In addition, both showed good bird resistance in trials in Indiana,
USA. In Puerto Rico, where bird pressure is greater, each was damaged, but only
in one of two replications; in the other, it remained untouched. All in all, these
white-seeded, tannin-free genotypes appear to be slightly less bird resistant than
the standard, strongly resistant, high-tannin types. Nonetheless, the level of
resistance was enough that these sorghums can be very useful in areas where bird
damage is normally severe.
The nutritional quality of these two is not yet fully determined, but all
indications are that both are fully comparable to the low-tannin (bird-susceptible)
sorghums. In a feeding trial, for example, laboratory rats grew much faster and
showed more efficient feed utilization than the (high-tannin, bird-resistant)
control. Remarkably, they were even better than the low-tannin types. Indeed,
there were no apparent nutritional problems associated with consuming the grain.
Trials of these sorghums are under way in Kenya.
QUICK-COOKING SORGHUMS
The starches in the grains of most sorghums have gelatinization
temperatures around 70°C. They must reach that temperature to become cooked
and edible. However, research has shown that some sorghums have starches
whose gelatinization temperature is only about 55°C. This can reduce the cooking
time required. These sorghums have waxy kernels (endosperm) rather than hard
vitreous ones. Thus,
6
Information in this section from L. Butler.
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they cannot always be used in the normal manner. Nonetheless, there is a good
possibility that they will make nontraditional quick-cooking products that will
appeal to many.
These unusual types are found especially in East Asia. The starch in their
grains is entirely amylopectin, rather than amylose and other normal forms.
AROMATIC SORGHUMS
Some sorghums in Sri Lanka and northeastern India are said to have the
aroma of basmati, the fragrant rice preferred by millions of Asians. Although
bland-tasting rice has dominated international markets, the basmati type has
always been tropical Asia's favorite, and it is now increasingly sold worldwide
(even in the United States) as a high-priced specialty. The discovery of sorghum
counterparts opens up similar opportunities. They, too, might become specialty
foods of high value. Also, they might help boost the acceptance of sorghum
normally the blandest of grainseven where it is a staple.
All in all, flavorful types like these present good opportunities for improving
markets and increasing consumption, not to mention boosting the returns to
farmers.
QUALITY-PROTEIN SORGHUMS
Deep in the misty green valleys of Ethiopia's highlands is hiding a unique
sorghum that, in both nutrition and palatability, far surpasses the thousands of
types found elsewhere.
Ethiopians call these types "milk in my mouth" (wetet begunche) and "honey
squirts out of it" (marchuke). To anyone who has tasted normal, bland, sorghum
flour, the names alone indicate something special. Both varieties produce
somewhat lower yields than normal but everyone likes to eat them. The taste of
roasted marchuke, for instance, has been likened to that of roasted chestnuts.
People gather the grains, roast them over a fire, and pop them down like peanuts.
Both are often used to enhance the flavor of local dishes made from regular
sorghums. The taste comes from the reducing sugars that caramelize as they are
roasted.
Until 1973 these two varieties were restricted to a tiny upland area of north-
central Ethiopia. The growers hid them in the middle of their sorghum fields
(mainly so the landlords wouldn't find out and raise the rents based on the extra
income from these elite types). In 1973, however, researchers analyzing different
sorghums for their food value
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stumbled onto them.
7
Of 9,000 varieties tested, these two were unique. They
contained 30 percent more protein, but more important, their protein had about
twice the normal level of lysine, an amino acid critical to nutritional quality.
This finding is significant because the more than 500 million people for
whom sorghum is the main source of sustenance are relying on a food that is not
great, nutritionally speaking. Its protein content is modest (averaging about 9
percent), and its protein quality is among the lowest of any cerealmainly owing
to its dismal lysine level.
In the years since 1973, neither of the two quality-protein sorghums has
fulfilled its promise. There are several reasons for this. Both types produce floury
grains with small and soft endosperms, a feature that makes them more
susceptible to birds, fungi, and insects. More important, however, soft grains are
not favored for traditional purposes. Upon pounding or milling in a machine, they
form a paste rather than a flour. Also, there is not much endosperm there to make a
flour from in the first place.
This fundamental problem with grain type is a big barrier: either a laborious
breeding program is needed to transform the grains into the hard-endosperm form
8
or people must use the soft form in foods differing from their normal grain-
sorghum fare.
A promising immediate use of these remarkable varieties is as feed. Animals
are less fussy than humans, and lysine-rich feeds, which are particularly necessary
for pigs, are critically short in many places. Fish meal and soybean meal (the
main lysine sources for livestock) are often unavailable or too expensive,
especially in remote Third World areas. High-lysine sorghum with its inbuilt
robustness and drought tolerance could well become a vital feedstuff for northern
China; large, dry areas of the Soviet Union; much of the Middle East; the
semiarid zones of India and Pakistan; substantial portions of Mexico; and other
places that are dry, salty, and lacking in lysine-rich feeds.
Moreover, the single gene responsible for the high lysine may be invaluable
for boosting the quality of conventional sorghums. Researchers at several
research facilities are trying to transfer this gene. They hope to enhance the
nutritional value of normal sorghums without affecting the grain structure or
other important traits.
SORGHOS
Sorghum and sugarcane are fairly closely related, and certain sorghums
(often termed "sorghos") have stems that are just as rich in
7
The researchers were John Axtell and Rameshwar Singh of Purdue University.
8
This has been done with a high-lysine maize (see the companion report, Quality
Protein Maize).
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 182
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THE SUPER SORGHUM OF THE SUDAN
Although it is perhaps the most important grain in Africa, sorghum still
has tremendous untapped potential. Many remarkable types are yet to be
discovered by science, as the following example shows.
When word leaked out in 1984 that a disastrous famine was impending
in Dafur and Kordofan, the horror that swept the world energized many
people into action. No one took a more original approach than the
organizers of ''Band Aid," a project in which rock and roll stars staged a free
concert for worldwide television. The donations from dozens of countries
then went to help those stricken provinces of the Sudan. Part ended up in a
far-sighted study of sorghum.
With Band Aid funding, David Harper, Omar Salih, and Abdelazim
Nour visited 150 villages in the drought-devastated area, checking on the
people's welfare and gathering samples of the local cropsespecially those
that had best survived the drought. A sorghum variety called "Karamaka"
proved to be truly remarkable.
For one thing, Karamaka had a protein that was unusually nutritious. It
had more than the normal amount of protein but, more importantly, its
protein had about twice the nutritional value of other sorghum proteins. Its
lysine content (3.4 percent) was 62 percent above normal, and the other
essential amino acids were not diminished to any significant extent. As a
result, Karamaka protein had a chemical score of 62 rather than the 30-40
figure of regular sorghum protein. Its nutritional value was therefore almost
two-thirds that of milk protein, the usual standard of protein perfection.
For another, Karamaka grain possessed an unusual combination of
carbohydrates, containing less starch and much more sugar than normal.
Indeed, the total sugars in the grain amounted to 35 percent. The individual
sugars were composed of both sucrose and reducing sugars, but the
sucrose level alone was approximately twice normal.
The ultimate star of the Band Aid concerts may be this drought-tolerant
crop, whose palatability and protein might lead sorghum into a new era of
significance for feeding the world at large. Karamaka not only foiled the
famine, it proved a nutritional gem, on a par with the best quality cereals.*
* More information is available from D. Harper (see Research Contacts).
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 183
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sugar as sugarcane's. These sweet sorghums are surprisingly poorly known
compared with sugarcane and sugar beet. Nonetheless, they have a big potential
in a world increasingly in need of renewable sources of energy (see next
chapter). Also, as food crops they deserve more attention.
Unlike sugarcane, sweet sorghum grows in a wide geographic range. It can
be considered "the sugarcane of the drier and temperate zones." It has a
production capacity equal or superior to sugarcane's, at least when considered on a
monthly basis.
Two types have been developed by breeders:
Syrup sorghums, which contain enough fructose to prevent crystallization;
and
Sugar sorghums, which contain mostly sucrose and crystallize readily.
RICELIKE SORGHUMS
The shallu type of sorghum (the margaritifera subrace of the guinea race)
has small, white, vitreous seeds, which are boiled like rice.
9
As of today, little or
nothing is known about this interesting form of sorghum, but it could have a good
future and deserves exploratory research.
TRANSPLANT SORGHUMS10
In certain regions of semiarid West Africa, various special sorghums are
transplanted like rice. These are used particularly by peoples living in the bend of
the Niger, including parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
Little is known about these. However, transplant sorghums are produced in
the dry seasongrowing and maturing entirely on subsoil moisture. They are
ephemerals that must get through their life cycle before the soil dries back to
powder or pavement. They must mature quickly to survive. Some can produce a
crop in 90 daysmerely half the time the rainfed types require in that area.
One fascinating example has been identified at Gao in northern Mali. It is
cultivated by ex-nomad Tuareg, and yields more than 1,000 kg per hectare on
residual moisture from the runoff water remaining after light rains.
11
Two others
are masakwa and moskwaris.
9
Information from J. Harlan.
10
Information largely from R.K. Vogler.
11
Information from J. DeVries.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 184
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These dry-season sorghums have special traits including:
Large, hard, high-quality grains, locally considered special delicacies;
Heat tolerance at the seedling stage;
Drought resistance or tolerance; and
Ability to flourish on residual moisture in heavy clay soil.
Transplant sorghums grow only on clay pans with a high water table. They
are often cultivated on vertisols, which are among the world's most refractory and
frustrating soils to deal with. Wet, these soils become soft, sticky, and plastic;
dry, they become iron hard and deeply cracked. At least once a year they go from
one extreme to the other. Few plants can withstand the trauma. For all that,
however, vertisols have high fertility. Any crop that can perform in such
recalcitrant sites could be a boon to several parts of the tropics that are now
languishing for lack of a crop suited to vertisols. Transplant sorghums therefore
deserve international attention.
The yields from transplant sorghums depend on the amount of moisture
stored in the soil, but are relatively high by the standards of the very difficult sites
where they are grown. (Their high yields probably result from the fertility of the
swamp clays.)
These transplant types apparently are uniquely adapted to the unusual
conditions of inundated clays and perhaps are unsuited to dry or infertile soils.
FREE-THRESHING SORGHUMS
Despite general opinion, some sorghums thresh easily. The heads hold onto
the seeds during the harvest as well as during drying and transport; however, the
farmer can separate the seeds from the heads with hardly more effort than is used
to thresh wheat or rice. For example, the sorghum variety called "Rio" has an
"easy thresh" characteristic. Another variety line being used currently in U.S.
breeding programs is SC599. It is both free threshing and tolerant of drought in
the post-flowering stage.
12
The term "free threshing" is also applied to the involute glumes of some
West African guinea sorghums. Their seeds are completely exposed and they
easily thresh completely free of the glumes.
12
Information from F.R. Miller. The glumes (chaffy bracts) in these free-threshing
types cover about 30 percent of the seed.
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SORGHUM COMES TO AMERICA
Sorghum has been in the United States for a long time. The grain types
commonly called "guinea corn" and "chicken corn" were introduced from
West Africa at least two centuries ago. Both were probably packed as
provisions on slave ships and reached the New World only inadvertently.
Americans first grew these grains along the Atlantic coast but later took the
crop westward where it found a better home in the drier regions. Later-
arriving grain types include some that were deliberately introduced by
seedsmen and scientists towards the end of the 1800s. By 1900, sorghum
grain was well established in the southern Great Plains and in California;
indeed, it had become an important resource in areas too hot and too
droughty for maize (see page 160).
The sorghum known as "broomcorn" was supposedly first cultivated in
the United States by Benjamin Franklin. He is said to have started the
industry in 1797 with seeds he picked off an imported broom. The stiff
bristles that rise from the plant's flower head have produced many of
America's brooms and brushes ever since (see page 209). By the 1930s,
for example, American farmers were cultivating 160,000 hectares of
broomcorn.
The so-called "sweet" sorghum, with its sugar-filled stems, reached
these shores in about the mid-1800s. It landed first in the Southern states
supposedly introduced as a cheap treat for slaves. Within 50 years,
however, it had spread so widely and become so popular that sorghum was
known as ''the sugar of the South." Each locality in the Southern farm belt
had a mill to crush sorghum stalks. The resulting syrup, a little thinner than
molasses, became the sweetener of the region: poured over pancakes,
added to cakes, and everywhere employed in candies and preserves.
Today, this golden liquid is not so well known, but many rural communities
still hold annual sorghum festivals and crude old mills squeeze out an
estimated 120 million liters of syrup each year.
Sudangrass was introduced in 1909. This form of "grass sorghum" is
now used for animal feed throughout the nation's warmer regions (see page
211).
A scene in the backhills of North Carolina. Sugar sorghum has all but disappeared from
commercial cultivation in the United States, but it is still grown on a small scale, mostly for
home use. The thin greenish liquid squeezed out of the stalks is boiled down into sorghum
molasses, thinner in consistency than sugarcane molasses, but lighter in color an almost
transparent golden shade. (P. Mask)
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 186
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SORGHUM IN CHINA
In China, sorghum is amazingly popular. In the northern parts,
especially, millions of villagers consider kaoliang a part of everyday living.
Many employ every part of the plantfrom top to bottom.
Grains. For millions of Chinese, sorghum is a daily staple. The grains
are eaten at perhaps every meal. Certain types of waxy grains are baked
into cakes. Other types are fermented and distilled into strong spirits. To
connoisseurs, China's best liquors are those made from sorghumthe
famous (or infamous) maotai and samshu, for example. Certain grains,
particularly the darker-colored varieties, are vital for feeding horses,
donkeys, and other livestock.
Seedheads. In some varieties, the empty heads are converted into
brooms and brushes.
Stalks. Sweet-stemmed sorghums are a major source of sugar to
millions of Chinese. Some are also harvested green and cut up like
sugarcane batons. (Children are particularly fond of chewing on them.) The
stalks of more woody varieties are bound together, cemented with clay, and
used for partitions and walls and fences. The supple green stems are split
and woven into baskets and fine matting. The strong dry stems are widely
used in making handicrafts and many types of small household utensils,
including plate-holders and pot covers. Sorghum stalk is, moreover, a
favorite for making children's toys and many types of containers. (Sorghum
cages are used to keep pet birds and insects, for example.) In some
places, woody sorghum stems are the basic fuel for cooking.
Leaves. In parts of China the leaves are frequently removed before the
grain harvest and used for fodder. They are vital for raising cattle, goats,
horses, and rabbits.
Roots. The roots are grubbed out and dried for fuel.
All this is not just an ancient traditional practice. In modern China,
hybrid sorghum has played a vital role in increasing food supplies. These
days, sorghum is a high-yield cropboth for grains and for stems. In sum,
the experiences in China demonstrate just how universally valuable this
African grain can become.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 188
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CHINESE SORGHUMS
All sorghums are indigenous to Africa, but the plant reached Asia so long
ago that thousands of cultivars developed there. Indeed, the Far East devotes a
huge area to this crop. It is especially surprising to find this tropical crop in chilly
climes as far north as Manchuria. Throughout northern China, however, farmers
rely on sorghum not only to keep themselves fed when wheat fails but also for
many of their household needs (see box opposite). Even when wheat is available,
the people often eat a cheap and rather coarse sorghum bread. Special steamed
breads are made from sorghum in some areas. Sorghum also goes into noodles,
porridges, and boiled (ricelike) dishes. A significant proportion is used to produce
strong liquor. Sorghum is also eaten, although to a lesser extent, in Japan.
China contains a cornucopia of types that are unknown elsewhere. The Flora
of Chinese Sorghum Varieties, for example, lists more than 1,000 local varieties:
980 for food, 50 for industrial use, and 14 for sugar. All of these should be rapidly
gathered and tested elsewhere in the world. They undoubtedly offer many genetic
benefits. Eventually, they and their genes may become critical to human survival
in many areas outside China.
Reuniting the genes of these Far Eastern types with those of Africa after a
2,000-year separation could be an extremely powerful genetic intervention
leading to a whole new line of "Chinaf" hybrids.
COLD-TOLERANT SORGHUM
When CIMMYT first tried growing sorghum in the Valley of Mexico, the
crop would not set seed. The problem was low temperatures at night. The
researchers then got some high-elevation sorghums from Ethiopia, made crosses,
and now have types adapted for that upland valley with its chilly nights. Cold
tolerance is available in the germplasm but has not yet been fully exploited.
HEAT-SHOCK SORGHUM
Sorghum thrives under searing conditions. Air temperatures of 45°C leave it
unfazed. Even at that temperature, young plants have been known to grow 20
percent in height in a single day. But sorghum has its limits. When soil
temperatures climb above 50°C, its seedlings struggle to survive. Such
temperatures are not uncommon at the soil surface in semiarid areas, and the
consequences for sorghum farmers are often dire, sometimes even disastrous.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 189
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Now, researchers at ICRISAT have found that certain sorghums withstand
heat better than others. No one has paid attention to this quality before, and
almost all of today's sorghums produce seedlings susceptible to burning hot soils.
By sowing seed in hot fields and seeing which survived, lines with heat-
tolerant seedlings have been identified. But such tests are expensive, time-
consuming, and subject to hosts of uncertainties. Now, researchers at the Welsh
Plant Breeding Station
13
are devising mass-screening techniques that can be
performed in a laboratory and with much more precision.
One Welsh technique, already adopted by ICRISAT, monitors the amount of
protein synthesized by the germinating seeds. In hot surroundings, the most
heat-tolerant types produce the most protein. However, this test is expensive and
cumbersome to run on thousands of samples, so now the Welsh researchers are
developing a second-generation test based on "heat-shock proteins" (HSPs).
All living things make HSPs when exposed to temperatures above their
normal range. They do it quicklyoften within 15 minutes. Once made, the
proteinswhich are similar in plants, animals, and bacteriaseem to confer an
ability to prosper in the heat. Their exact function is still uncertain, but they may
protect the organism's proteins, messenger RNA, or membranes from damage.
One HSPoften called HSP70 because it has a relative molecular mass of
70,000may ensure that heat-damaged proteins regain their proper shape so that
they can continue working as enzymes, muscles, and antibodies.
The researchers now have found that briefly exposing a sorghum seedling to
temperatures between 40°C and 45°C induces it to produce a characteristic set of
HSPs. From then on, the plant can tolerate temperatures of 50°C or even more
without suffering damage.
Although all sorghum seedlings make HSPs, those that tolerate heat best
make HSPs much sooner after germinating. Speed is the secret of their success.
This response is being studied in the hope of finding an easily recognizable
feature that can identify heat tolerance without torturing the seeds. If successful,
this will open the way to mass screening so that farmers in the hottest areas will
no longer face the heartbreak of seeing their fields wilting in the blazing sun
before the plants have even grown more than knee-high.
Another approach is to find the regions of the chromosomes which are
important for survival of heat stress. DNA probes are being used as markers by
the researchers in Wales to follow regions of the chromosomes linked to the
thermotolerance trait from parents to subsequent generations.
13
Led by Cathy Howarth and Chris Pollock.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 190
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TROPICAL SORGHUMS
A few sorghums grow in the humid lowland tropics. Although they are not
well studied, the guineense and other related groups (roxburghii and conspicuum,
for example) could be useful as genetic sources for improvement of genotypes
for humid tropical regions.
WILD SORGHUMS
At least two undomesticated forms show extremely robust growth under the
harshest of conditions.
One, the verticiliflorum form (previously known as Sorghum
verticiliflorum) is a wild grass, distributed from the Sudan to South Africa. It is
often found in damp areas (along stream banks and irrigation ditches, for
example) or as a weed in cultivated fields. On the other hand, it is also a
dominant climax species in many of the area's dry, tall-grass savannas. It is
thought to be a progenitor of the modern bicolor, caudatum, and kafir races of
sorghum but has seldom been considered a genetic resource in its own right.
Nonetheless, in research now under way, this plant is proving extremely useful in
forage-breeding programs. No doubt it contains disease-fighting abilities and pest
resistances that could be deployed to help sorghum.
The other (previously known as Sorghum arundinaceum) is a wild and
weedy rainforest species that flourishes in Africa's wet tropics, where today's
domesticated sorghums are poorly adapted. Although very little information is
available, it appears to be more photosynthetically efficient at low light
intensities than cultivated sorghum.
14
As of now it is not cultivated, but it may
have a future as a domesticated crop for humid and forested regions. It is a robust
species, very common along roadsides, vacant lots in cities, and other
"wastelands."
WIDE CROSSES
Sorghum can be crossed with grasses genetically distant enough to be
classified in different genera or even in different subfamilies. It is certainly highly
speculative to think that these crosses might have any economic merit, but
exploratory research efforts seem well worth undertaking. A few possibilities are
discussed here.
Crosses between sorghum and certain types of Chrysopogon, Vetiveria, and
Parasorghum are possible. Crosses with Pseudosorghum
14
Downes, 1971.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 191
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WILL SORGHUM GO HIGH-TECH?
Since the 1960s, when tissue culture was developed for replicating
plants such as potato and tobacco on a mass scale, researchers have
attempted to apply this technique to grasses. For a decade or two it was
considered an impossibility, but recent discoveries have changed that, and a
few grasses can now be propagated this way. In 1989, for example, Indian
researchers L. George and S. Eapen of the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre
in Bombay reported replicating certain cultivars of sorghum using tissue
culture. This development could open a new world of understanding and
advancement for the world's fifth major food crop.*
The Indian scientists studied seven sorghum cultivars (C021, C022,
C023, C024, TNS24, TNS25, and TNS30). Cells from the stems refused to
form callus (the first step in the tissue-culture process), but cells from the
base of the leaves formed callus in every case. Also, cells from the seeds
of one cultivar (C023) formed callus in about one-third of the samples.
When the researchers added hormones to induce the undifferentiated
callus tissues to produce plantlets, all the callus samples formed roots.
However, only three of the cultivars (C023, TNS24, and TNS25) formed
shoots, and then only in 10-15 percent of the samples.
This discovery, while limited, is one upon which further refinements and
higher efficiencies can be built. With tissue culture, powerful techniques
such as restriction fragmentation length polymorphisms (RFLPs, see page
34), the production of pathogen-free plants, and challenge breeding can be
applied to understanding and improving this crop, which is so vital to Africa
and the world.
Techniques like these could open possibilities even for far-out
developments such as introducing into sorghum the gluten genes from
wheat, adding virus-resistance genes, making somaclonal selections, and
sorting through the crop's massive genetic diversity in ways that are far
more efficient than any imaginable even just a few years ago.
* These results are reported in Current Science (India) 58(6):308-310. The researchers used
the standard Murashige and Skoog medium to grow the leaf cells and added 2,4-D as a
hormone to stimulate growth. They used a combination of kinetin and tri-iodobenzoic acid to
induce root growth.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 192
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and selected members of the Bothriochloeae and the Sorgheae also seem
possible. Crosses between subtribes might be possible if certain members of
Chrysopogon and Capillipedium were used.
15
American researchers are currently performing experimental crosses
between sorghum and johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), a perennial forage that
has already introgressed with sorghum to become a pernicious weed in the United
States. It is hoped the grain qualities of sorghum can be united with the
rhizomatous habit of johnsongrass to create a powerful new perennial cereal.
Recently, crosses between sorghum itself and its sudangrass subspecies
(Sorghum bicolor subspecies sudanense) have produced hybrid grasses with
outstanding vigor. Their productivity and performance have boosted even more
the acreage and overall yield of forage sorghum, a main part of the livestock-
grazing industries of America and Argentina. They also promise to help in
reclaiming salt-affected lands (see next chapter).
It has long been known that sorghum can be crossed with sugarcane.
Chinese researchers now report developing a hybrid between the two that
contains more sugar and produces more stalk and grain than either parent.
16
Research along these lines might turn up fascinating new resources of
undreamed-of usefulness.
15
These speculations were put forward decades ago by Robert P. Celarier, who was
thinking in terms of clarifying taxonomic relationships in the subtribe Sorgheae. However,
the economic potential of these man-made crosses might be substantial.
16
S. Wittwer, Y. Yu, H. Sun, and L. Wang. 1987. Feeding a Billion. Michigan State
University Press. Such a cross might prove a method for boosting sorghum's grain yield. In a
sorghum flower, only one spikelet of each pair is fertile. In sugarcane and its relatives,
both spikelets of a pair are fertile. Moreover, this trait can be transferred to sorghum, at
least at the tetraploid level. See Gupta et al., 1978.
SORGHUM: SPECIALTY TYPES 193
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11
Sorghum: Fuel and Utility Types
Few people heretofore have paid much attention to the idea of growing
sorghum to burn. Cereal scientists, quite naturally, have regarded the plant
exclusively as a food. But these days, feeding the fire can be as hard as feeding
the people. Certain sorghums might help, and they warrant research.
Moreover, fuel is fundamental to many other parts of modern living. Indeed,
most of the human race is so hooked on flammable liquids for running factories
and powering trains, trucks, cars, and busesnot to mention providing
electricitythat life would be impossible, or at least intolerable, without them.
For all that, however, the prime liquid fuel, crude petroleum oil, is in
jeopardy. Perhaps the greatest challenge of the coming century will be the
development of sustainable alternatives. Surprisingly, sorghum might be one of
them. Indeed, sorghum could well bring many countries a giant step toward the
renewable-energy future everyone is hoping will eventuate to keep life livable in
the post-petroleum era.
This chapter highlights sorghum's potential to produce both solid fuels and
liquid fuels, to yield industrial products, and to help maintain the overall
sustainability of agricultural production.
FIREWOOD
Although food is fundamental, fuel is almost as basic to the modern diet.
Without it food cannot be cooked, and today's main grains, pulses, roots, and
tubers, as well as many vegetables, must be cooked to be edible.
These days, millions cook over open fires. Indeed, for more than a third of
the world's people, the real energy crisis is a frantic scramble for firewood. In the
poorest countries, up to 90 percent of the population depend on wood to cook
their meals. In parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, an average user may burn well
over a ton a year.
1
1
See companion report Firewood Crops: Shub and Tree Species for Energy
Production. For a list of BOSTID) publications, see page 377.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 195
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Although the search for food soaks up a major part of the daily lives of
billions, the search for fuel to cook it with is becoming equally time-consuming.
Firewood is more and more difficult to find. In an increasing number of places,
gathering fuel now takes more time than growing food. There is a saying in
Africa that it costs more to heat the pot than to fill it.
Although in recent years much effort has been expended on developing
firewood crops, few advisers or administrators have ever thought of developing
sorghum for the fire. It is a fact, however, that certain types have woody stems
that put out surprising amounts of heat. They could well become part of the mix
of the firewood crops of the future.
Although these solid-stemmed sorghums have received almost no study as
fuel resources, one type has been tested in a preliminary way. It comes from
Egypt, where its stalks are more valued than its grains. Egyptians use them as
fuel. Called Giza 114, it has solid lignified stalks that burn at an especially high
temperature for the stem of a grass.
Little is known about Giza sorghum but, based on results from preliminary
trials, it could have a glowing future. It has shown promise in Peru, for example,
where it was produced to fuel cookstoves and brick kilns. It is now being tested in
Haiti, where it also seems to have good potential as fuel.
2
It is not inconceivable that sorghums like this could become a standard part
of farming in fuel-short nations. Their annual biomass yield is likely to equal or
better that from trees. The yield of sorghum stalks has been measured in China as
75 tons per hectare, probably representing more than 10 tons per hectare of dry
biomass. This would be a respectable annual production for even the fastest
growing trees. The overall yield in fuel-calories per hectare may also be
comparable, although even the densest sorghum stem will not equal the caloric
output of a wood sample of equal volume. Perhaps, too, a modest harvest of grain
can also be achieved.
Compared with trees, sorghums have the advantage in that they produce fuel
within monthseven weeks, Several crops a year may be possible in appropriate
locations. This may help relieve not only the frenzied foraging for firewood that
goes on today, but also the destruction of woodlands and forests that seems to end
only when desert or degraded soils remain. People who can find fuel in fields
close at hand will not hike to far-off forests and haul bulky wood all the way
back. Their need is not for large-diameter tree trunks but for small stems that can
be easily cut, carried, and fed into the space beneath a pot perched on rocks. For
such a purpose, solid-stalked sorghums could become vital resources of the
future.
2
Information from M. Price.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 196
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Sorghum stalks make a poor fuel, but for millions they are all that is available.
To this extent, they provide a vital contribution toward relieving hunger because
all the starchy staples must be cooked to become edible. (Nathan Benn)
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 197
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LIQUID FUELS
For the economic stability and expansion of nations, liquid petroleum fuels
kerosene, gasoline, and diesel, for instancehave become essential. As noted,
these liquids not only power factories, trains, trucks, and buses, they also generate
electricity and produce thousands of items from machines to medicines.
Moreover, maintaining mobility is critical to the public welfare: police, fire
fighters, ambulances, mass transit, and construction fleets all depend on liquids
that will explode in the cylinders of internal combustion engines.
For these and other reasons, the growing dilemma over future petroleum
supplies makes it imperative to investigate renewable fuels, especially those
suited for use in existing engine types. Of all the nonpetroleum possibilities,
ethanol is the only one now significantly used in motor transport.
3
At present, ethanol is made from either sugarcane or maize. In the future,
however, sorghum is likely to also be a prime supplier. The stalks of certain
sorghums are just as packed with sugar as are sugarcane's. Their juice contains
13-20 percent total fermentable sugars. They can yield about 6 percent alcohol.
Sweet-stalk types are sparingly distributed across sorghum-growing areas of
Africa and India, where people chew the green and tender stems like sugarcane
or make syrups, molasses, sugar, or confections from them. They were once a
major source of sweeteners in the southern United States. Now, however, they
have a rising potential as sources of fuel.
All in all, sweet sorghums are important for future ethanol production
because they have:
High biomass yield;
High percentage of fermentable sugars;
High percentage of combustible materials (for fueling the processing);
Comparatively short growth period;
Tolerance to drought stress; and
Relatively low fertilizer requirement.
Moreover, sweet sorghums may produce some grain for food or feed.
Indeed, as sorghum is one of the most efficient plants, and as it produces
fermentable sugars as well as grain, it seems almost ideal for
3
See companion report, Alcohol Fuels: Options for Developing Countries. National
Research Council, Washington, D.C. 1983. Research on another renewable-energy
alternative, vegetable oils, is described in E. Griffin Shay. Diesel fuel from vegetable oils:
status and opportunities. Biomass and Bioenergy. Vol. 4, No. 4, 1993. pp. 227-242.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 198
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producing both energy and food. Technologies used in the sugarcane industry can
be applied virtually without modification.
Sweet sorghum has a number of potential advantages over sugarcane. For
example, it is adapted to many growing conditions, unlike sugarcane, which is
restricted to tropical climates. It requires less water and fertilizer. It can be
planted more easily (from seeds not stems). And it also has a potential for low
unit costs because it can be fully mechanized and the fields need not be burned
(unlike sugarcane fields).
Sorghum's advantage over maize (in which the grain is converted to alcohol)
is that it produces sugar rather than starch. As a result, sorghum juice can be
directly fermented without the expense or delay of an initial hydrolysis.
Recently, researchers in at least three countries have begun to appreciate the
potential of sorghum as a fuel as the following examples show.
India
In southern India, the potential of sorghum varieties that yield both grain and
sugar-filled stems is being explored.
4
Engineers at the Nimbkar Agricultural
Research Institute (NARI) have found that these dual-purpose varieties solve
three problems: they yield food, the fuel to cook it with, and the fodder to feed
the farm animals that help produce it. From the top of the plant comes grain for
food; from the stalk comes sugar (and hence alcohol) for fuel; and from the pulp
remaining after the sugar is extracted comes animal fodder.
In the past, multipurpose sorghums were dismissed or at least overlooked,
probably in the expectation that the individual yields of the various products
would be low. But the NARI researchers are showing that this may not be the
case. Indeed, they claim that I hectare of their sorghums can annually yield 2-4
tons of grain, 2,0004,000 liters of alcohol, and enough crushed stalk to feed
from three to five cattle year-round.
5
The idea of ''growing" fuel alcohol is of course not new. However, most
other programs have faltered because the cost of the fuel needed to distill the
alcohol rendered them economically unattractive. NARI engineers circumvented
this by designing a solar-powered still, incorporating a solar collector and a
distillation column that can run at 5070°Ctemperatures that the solar collector
can easily provide.
6
Also,
4
Rajvanshi et al., 1989.
5
For the fermentation, NARI uses strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The average
fermentation efficiency was 90 percent and the fermentation process took 48-72 hours to
complete.
6
The pilot model consists of flat-plate solar collectors (38 m
2
in area) coupled to a hot
water storage tank (2,150 1 capacity).
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they have developed pressurized and unpressurized lanterns as well as a wickless
stove that will run on aqueous alcohol taken directly from the still.
NARI suggests that this combination of multipurpose sorghum and
appropriate technology could, in theory, meet all the automotive fuel
requirements in India by the year 2000, completely replace the kerosene now used
in Maharashtra, and supply 80 percent of the fodder for all the cattle in
Maharashtra. Although such levels will never be approached in practice and it
seems axiomatic that grain yields will tumble when sugar is also produced, the
NARI concept is a powerful one that could be a big breakthrough that boosts
sorghum into an energy resource worldwide. And perhaps, after all, it is not too
far-fetched to envisage sorghum producing both high contents of sugar in the stem
and high yields of grain.
7
United States
A large sorghum-for-alcohol project was carried out across the United States
between 1978 and 1984. As part of this project, the University of Nebraska
developed a demonstration farm based entirely on renewable fuels. Sweet
sorghum was the principal crop for alcohol production. Hybrids that grew rapidly
and produced large amounts of sugar were created.
8
A major constraint of sweet sorghum in the temperate zone is the harvest
period. Wherever the potential of a freeze exists, the harvest period is greatly
reduced because the crop must be gathered before any freezing weather. Sugar in
the damaged stalks begins to ferment.
Brazil
Of all the nations in the world, Brazil is the ethanol-fuel pioneer. It already
has fuel alcohol in large-scale nationwide use. So far, however, this has come
almost entirely from sugarcane. Now, Brazil's scientists are exploring the use of
sweet sorghum. The two crops, it has been found, supplement one another:
sorghum can provide alcohol during the season in which sugarcane is
unavailable.
9
Therefore, using the two together increases the period of
production, decreases the unit cost, and increases the total amount of alcohol that a
distillery can
7
Researchers in Texas have also discovered that high yields of sugar are not
incompatible with high yields for grain. Information from F.R. Miller.
8
Information from M.D. Clegg.
9
Sugarcane in Brazil is normally ready to harvest between June and November; the
harvesting period for sweet sorghum is from February to May. Information from R.E.
Schaffert.
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produce each year. The same equipment is used to process both sugarcane stalks
and sweet-sorghum stalks.
WILL BRAZIL'S CARS RUN ON SORGHUM?
Brazil leads the world in the use of fuel alcohol. In 1993, about 4.3
million vehiclesone-third of the country's total fleet and about 40 percent
of its car populationoperate on ethanol. Almost all that alcohol now comes
from sugarcane, but in the future it may come from sorghum as well.
Brazilian researchers have shown that sweet sorghum can yield from
22 to 45 tons of raw biomass per hectare in 110 days. Fermentable solids
(80 percent sugars and 20 percent starch) in the stalks amount to 2.5-5 tons
per hectare. To optimize the output, enzymes are added so that the starch
in the stems is also converted to alcohol. Research has shown that in this
way 1 ton of sweet-sorghum stalks has the potential to yield 74 liters of
200-proof alcohol.
Such discoveries have implications for countries everywhere. In that
distant but inevitable day when the world's petroleum runs out, maybe
people will turn to sorghum to keep civilization humming. Brazil is showing
us yet another way this remarkable plant will be important in our future.
The Brazilian scientists are also extending their studies to incorporate
sorghum into an integrated system in which the by-products are used as food,
feed, fertilizer, and fiber. Further, they are adapting this technology to a
microscale to allow the economical production of fuel in a decentralized
industry. This reduces transportation costs and may perhaps allow the farmers to
generate their own energy.
SORGHUM IN SUPPORTING ROLES
Around the world, sorghum is mostly grown for food or feed and (as just
mentioned) a little is being grown for fuel. However, there are several interesting
uses in which sorghum is grown not for its own sake but for the benefit of other
crops. Below are three examples.
Soil Reclamation
Saline Soils
It has recently been found that crosses between sorghum and sudangrass (a
special race of sorghum), have the capacity to repair saline soils made crusty by
sodium compounds. David L. Carter, director of soil and water management
research at the U.S. Department
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of Agriculture station in Kimberly, Idaho, predicts that "they are going to produce
some good forage on these marginal lands and at the same time will reclaim some
of these soils for crops for human consumption."
Acids released by the sordan roots dissolve calcium carbonate or lime, and in
so doing they release calcium. The calcium then displaces sodium in the soil. The
newly released sodium reacts with carbon dioxide to form sodium bicarbonate, a
soluble salt that is less injurious to plants and mostly washes away in the rain.
After growing sordan on sodic lands for about 2 years, farmers can often
re-use the soil for conventional crops.
10
Reclaiming Toxic Soils
U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists in Lincoln, Nebraska, have found
that sorghum has an exceptional ability to absorb pollutants out of soil. According
to their research, sorghum strips excess nitrogen out of soils with such efficiency
that it may solve waste disposal problems for cities and livestock operations (such
as feedlots) that generate nitrogen-laden wastes. "We've been able to capitalize on
sorghum's natural ability to act as a scavenger," says Kenneth J. Moore. "Sorghum
thrives in toxic soils that kill less resilient plants and its penetrating roots can
capture the nitrogen in a vast volume of soil."
Moore, an agronomist, and his colleague Jeffrey F. Pedersen, a plant
geneticist, are now developing a system in which nitrogen is not only removed
but is returned to use safely and economically. They plant sorghum in highly
contaminated soils, cut the crop several times through the growing season, and
feed the foliage to livestock. The key to the process is sorghum's robust growth
and extensive root system.
Such an environmental tool could be very valuable these days. In Nebraska,
for instance, municipal and livestock wastes are commonly disposed of by
applying them to fallow cropland. An excessive buildup of nitrogen is one of the
resulting hazards. "By planting forage sorghum in well-managed cropping
system, producers can safely recycle that nitrogen," says Moore.
Two years ago, Moore and Pedersen began their project at a sewage sludge
disposal site by planting several types of sorghum: grain types, forage types,
tropical types, sweet sorghums, and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids. Soils there
contained 400 kg per hectare of nitrogen. The tropical sorghums and hybrids
absorbed the most nitrogen from the soil, removing an average of 200 kg and
yielding more than 20 metric tons of dry matter per hectare in one season.
"We hoped for more, but the first year's growing season proved to be short
and cool," says Moore. "Under normal conditions, some
10
The companion report Saline Agriculture has more information on sordan grass and
salt-tolerant agriculture. For a list of BOSTID reports, see page 377.
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NEW LIFE FOR SALTY SOIL
Over the last few decades, irrigation has saved the world's food supply
from catastrophe. But irrigation has a fundamental flaw: in the drylands
where it is most used, evaporation leaves the site with a surplus of soda
and salt. In their worst forms such "sodic" soils become self-sealing: their
internal structure collapses so that water just sits uselessly on the surface.
Sorghum, it turns out, can help.
Sorghum roots ooze large amounts of sugars. Ordinarily, soil microbes
gobble these up, but sodic soils tend to be anaerobic and lack the right
organisms. Instead, chemical processes break down the sugars in a way
that releases carbon dioxide. A weak natural acid carbon dioxide reacts with
the soluble alkalis (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) to form
acetic acid and a little formic acid. These stronger acids, in turn, react with
the insoluble alkalis such as calcium carbonate. Sorghum's overall effect is
therefore to reduce the alkalinity and convert minerals into more soluble
forms. When those wash away, the soil's natural porosity is reopened.
This process occurs with amazing efficiency. Researchers at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture have reclaimed marginal sodium-affected soils
using sorghum (mainly the forage types called sordan and sudangrass)
after just one season. In fields so toxic that crops would not grow, they get
respectable stands of barley and alfalfa after just one season of sorghum.
Beans, a highly salt-sensitive plant, can be grown after two or three
seasons of sorghum. Within one season it not uncommon for the alkalinity
to drop a full pH unit and the calcium solubility to increase tenfold. At first,
however, the plants come up scraggly, stunted, and yellow. This has been
traced to iron deficiency, to which sorghums are very sensitive. But when
the "acidification mechanism" kicks in, the iron concentration in the plant
shoots up, they turn green and grow rapidly.
The process is much more than a way to reclaim soils. The researchers
are also getting some of the highest dry-matter production recorded in
feed-sorghum, especially during the hottest of the summer months. Dry
weight up to 67 tons per hectare.*
* Information in this section is from Charles W. Robbins, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
3793 North 3600 East, Kimberly, Idaho 83341, USA.
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tropical sorghums absorb as much as 300 kg of nitrogen and yield 25 tons of
dry matter per hectare."
Sorghum is so efficient a scavenger that nitrogen levels in the foliage can
actually build up to levels harmful to livestock. To address this possibility of
nitrate toxicity, the researchers rated their sorghums for nitrate content. Most
were at or near toxic levels, but the ensiling process (a lactic-acid fermentation;
see Appendix C) removes any threat to the animals.
With further refinement, this process could prove to be a method for
continuously stripping nitrogen (and perhaps other pollutants, both useful and
hazardous) out of the wastes from cities and industries. "Sorghum-sudangrass
hybrids are very popular now in Nebraska and other Central Plains and Midwest
states," says Pedersen. "They could be put immediately to work consuming
organic wastes."
WIND EROSION
Researchers the world over are working hard to keep sorghum alive, but
James D. Bilbro, Jr., is more interested in sorghum dead. He wants to foil the
winter winds that pick up soil from Texas farmland and whirl it away across the
American landscape. Dead sorghum, it seems, is an answer.
Bilbro, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agronomist in Big Spring, Texas,
is exploring ways to protect farmland during a long, cold, blustery winter when
the crops have been harvested and the land is bare. Today, farmers in his part of
the country normally put in a special crop to cover the land and keep the soil
pinned down. The plants survive under the snow, and to get the land back for
planting the main crops again, the farmers must eventually kill them with
herbicides.
Bilbro asks: Why spend money on herbicides and risk the environment when
nature could do the work? In late summer or fall he plants warm-weather crops
and finds that they serve very well. Although dead by December, they cover at
least 60 percent of the ground, thereby eliminating wind erosion.
Of the 16 crops Bilbro has tested, forage sorghum is the most promising. He
thinks that farmers will soon start using it to protect soil because it will save them
money, help the environment, and (because the sorghum plants live such a short
time before the frost arrives) leave more moisture behind for the subsequent
crops.
The technique is being developed in the Texas High Plains, but it may prove
useful wherever wind erosion is a problem in the cold-weather zones.
This may seem like a minor use for a major food crop, but the potential is
actually vast. Wind damaged 1.74 million hectares of
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cropland and rangeland in the 10-state Great Plains area during the last wind-
erosion season (November 1991 to May 1992). And more than 6 million hectares
were reported to be vulnerable to losing their topsoil to the wind. And that was
just in the United States.
11
Weed Control
In previous times, farmers used many plants in crop rotations to control
weeds. With the advent of modern herbicides, this practice was dropped in favor
of continuous cultivation of the most profitable cash crop. Science is now
documenting what these farmers knewand perhaps too often have forgotten.
One example from the United States involves sorghum.
Despite the fact that U.S. farmers apply nearly 200 million kg of herbicides
every year, they lose $10 billion worth of crops to weeds. But one Nebraska
farmer, Gary Young, doesn't buy any herbicides and his 100 hectares of crops are
doing just fine. About 10 years ago, Young noticed that his fields produced fewer
than normal weeds the year after he grew sorghum. Since then he has relied on
sorghum, not chemicals.
Now there is increasing proof that sorghum is a weed killer that works.
Frank Einhellig, a biologist at the University of South Dakota, and James
Rasmussen, an ecologist at Mount Marty College of Yankton, South Dakota,
recently completed 3 years of field trials on Young's farm. On test plots covering 6
hectares, they had Young plant strips of sorghum, maize, and soybeans, and they
measured the number of weeds that came up in the following year's crop. The
strips that had been planted with sorghum produced only one-third as many weed
seedlings at crop-planting time. Even in midsummerwithout herbicides or
cultivationthe total weed biomass was still 40 percent less than that on the plots
that had been planted to maize and soybeans the previous year.
The surprise is that sorghum suppressed broad-leaved weeds without
affecting grasses. It is a selective "herbicide" and thus has special importance for
cereal farmers. (It is also well known that broad-leafed crops following sorghum
are likely to give poor yields.)
The active ingredients are thought to be phenolic acids and cyanogenic
glycosides given off by sorghum's roots. Phenolic acids affect plant-cell
membranes and thus reduce a plant's ability to absorb water. They also disturb
cell division and hormonal activity, and seem to inhibit seed germination as well
as the seedling's early growth and
11
For more information, contact James D. Bilbro, Jr., USDA-ARS Conservation and
Production Systems Research Unit, P.O. Box 909. Big Spring, Texas 79721-090. USA.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 205
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SORGHUM SAVES THE SEASON
As this book shows, sorghum is a remarkable crop, but even we were
surprised to learn of the following recent experience.
In the area around Lubbock, Texas, cotton has long been king. The
rains there fall in the spring (as well as fall) and the cotton thrives in the hot,
dry months that follow. But in the spring of 1992, the rains and record low
temperatures came during the planting season. Throughout the region,
more than 800,000 hectares were lost because of the unusual conditions.
The cool and damp released the soil diseases and pests that had built up
over the years and the cotton seedlings quickly succumbed.
The Federal government declared the crop a total loss and authorized
disaster payments for the farmers. The farmers, however, faced an
unexpected problem: their land was bare and could blow away in the
summer winds or wash away in later rains. They needed a ground cover. In
desperation they decided to sow nearly 600,000 hectares to sorghum.
Even in this seemingly simple task there was a difficulty. The cotton
fields had been treated with a weed killer that is both persistent and
designed to kill grasses. Sorghum obviously could not survive. Then
someone suggested that an old-fashioned farm implement called a "lister-
planter" might work. Fifty years before, farmers used these double-
moldboard plows but had since given them up as too old fashioned and too
energy consuming.
Now, however, in the 1992 emergency, the countryside was scoured
for any of the old plows that were still lying about. Some were found quietly
rusting away behind various barns.
Instead of planting sorghum seed in the normal way on the ridges left
by the lister, the farmers planted it in the furrows. There, the roots had
better access to the soil moisture, but more importantly the toxic topsoil had
been scraped aside.
Nothing more was done. The sandy land had already been treated with
nitrogen for the cotton crop andalthough most observers believed that the
rains had probably already leached the fertilizer below root depth
everyone hoped that the combination of furrow-planting and sorghum's
deep roots would ensure at least a solid stand to cover the land. A few
went beyond that and hoped for a modest harvest of sorghum grain.
The crop was harvested in the fall of 1992. Even with the late planting,
minimum preparation, and no inputs, it was a record for that parched area.
The figure4,500 kg per hectareactually matched the national average
for sorghum. Elevators overflowed
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 206
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Typical scene near Lubbock, Texas in 1992. Part of the unexpected near-record
harvest. (A.B. Maunder)
with the unexpected bounty and grain had to be mounded in huge piles
in the city streets. Some of the piles were half a kilometer long. Coming on
top of their disaster payments, the farmers made more money than ever!
Is it any wonder, therefore, that the cotton farmers of Texas now look
on sorghum with new respect? Years before they had used it as a rotation
crop, and now they would like to use it that way again. Planting sorghum
one year in four, they think, should break the buildup of cotton pests and
diseases in the soil and help avoid future failures of the cotton crop. It might
also improve soil tilth, decrease erosion, and diversify the local agriculture.
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development. Cyanogenic glycosides are known to break down into
secondary substances that include cyanide. "Cyanide," Einhellig notes, "is a pretty
strong inhibitor of any growth system."
In his latest technique, Gary Young plants sorghum in the fall and allows it
to freeze during the winter. The dead sorghum almost
completely suppressed weeds, particularly broad-leaved weeds, throughout the
year. Snap beans and other crops planted in the residue the following season
required almost no weed control.
Now, many of Young's neighbors also plant sorghum and are finding
reasonable weed control without herbicides.
In Africa, these effects may be especially important. Today, weeding is
perhaps the greatest of all drudgeries in African farming. Most is done by hand
some of it on hands and knees. Returning to the old ways might just solve the
problem.
With the new findings in mind, it is possible that the ongoing switch from
sorghum to maize may be exacerbating Africa's weed problems. In the future,
though, sorghum may become the maize farmer's best friend. Rotations of the two
may benefit both.
Crop Support
West African farmers use sorghum for supporting yam plants. They employ a
special kind that has stalks like ramrods. The yam plants are extremely heavy so
the fact that sorghum can hold them up is graphic evidence of its strength.
12
Actually, it is even more remarkable than it appears at first. The sorghums
support the crushing weight of yams even 8 months after their grain has matured
and they have died. Farmers bend the sorghum stalks over to create an
intertwined "trellis" about 1.2 m high. The yams are grown on this woven wall of
dead stalks from the previous season's sorghum crop.
Few plants could withstand such treatment. The tentlike canopy of
clambering yam plants entraps heat and moisture and fosters molds, mildews, and
rots of many kinds. These sorghums, therefore must be very fungus-resistant,
even when dead.
Little attention has ever been given to yam-staking sorghums. Latin
America's traditional use of maize plants to hold up climbing beans has been
extolled, but Africa's even more remarkable counterpart is little known.
These strong-stalk sorghums might be excellent for use with many climbing
annuals, including, for example:
Macroptiliuman extremely promising tropical forage legume
12
The yam vines can be 3 m tall and weigh perhaps 50 kg.
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whose yields rise dramatically if it can be kept off the ground, where it
becomes affected by mildew.
Winged beana climbing bean that could become a major crop of the
tropics if cheap ways to support it can be found.
The viny types of lima beans, common beans, common peas, and runner
beans that tend to be the highest yielding varieties but are seldom grown
because of the expense of staking them or the lack of poles.
Beans, squash, or other climbing plants traditionally grown on maize.
Switching to sorghum might extend this useful practice to locations too
dry for maize.
SORGHUM IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
Strictly speaking, this book is about plants that produce food, but we cannot
resist rounding out the sorghum story with a glimpse at this plant's actual and
potential utility as a source of everyday items for industry and for people in their
homes.
Fiber Resources
In the rural regions of Africa and Asia, people have devised many uses for
sorghum stems. These include:
Roof thatching;
Sleeping mats and baskets (made from the peeled stems); and
Strings in traditional musical instruments (in Nigeria, for example, the
peeled bark is used this way
13
).
In China, a particularly strong type has been developed for its pliable, dense
stalks. Usually known as galiang sorghum, it is used for constructing fences,
walls, and many household items, including grain bins bigger than the beds of
pick-up trucks.
Brooms
Broomcorn belongs to this special galiang group of sorghums. It is a special
sorghum that is grown not for food, forage, or fuel but for the bristles that rise
from its flower head (inflorescence). These stiff, very strong, strawlike
projections can be up to 60 cm long. For several centuries, people have used them
to make brooms and brushes.
13
Information from S. Agboire.
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Broomcorn was apparently developed in the Mediterranean region during
the Middle Ages. (The original sorghums are thought to have come from Africa
or India.) It was growing in Italy before the year 1596, and soon thereafter it was
being cultivated in Spain, France, Austria, and southern Germany.
Before this sorghum's arrival, Europe's houses, warehouses, front steps,
streets, and other places that accumulate dust, dirt, leaves, and horse manure were
swept with loose bundles of straw. These not only fell apart quickly, they lacked
the strength and springiness to properly flick dust and dirt out of cracks and
crevices. Broomcorn, therefore, may well have been one of the most beneficial
advances in European public health.
In the United States broomcorn became, if anything, even more important
than in Europe. Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing this strange
sorghum. He apparently brought the seed from England in 1725 (when he was
only 19) and grew the first broomcorn in North America. It took hold, however.
In 1781, Thomas Jefferson listed broomcorn among six important agricultural
crops of Virginia. It has been the basis for billions of long-lasting brushes and
brooms ever since.
In the competition with man-made fibers and the vacuum cleanerboth of
which should in theory have swept it asidebroomcorn is holding its own in the
United States. Today, products made of this sorghum are used in millions of
American households, warehouses, stores, factories, steel mills, smelters, cotton
mills, and barns. They range from whisk brooms to yard brooms for rough
sweeping and special purposes.
Considerable development of broomcorn subsequently took place in the
United States, but apparently few (if any) other countries have given the crop
much attention. This is certainly surprising and should be investigated. Dozens of
countriesfrom Rwanda to Russiastill sweep with bundles of straw. For them,
too, this sorghum with the wiry flowers might be a boon.
The broomcorn plant is unlike other sorghums. The stem is dry and hard.
The kernels are small and are often enclosed in long ellipsoid husklike coverings
(glumes).
The plant has been typecast as a source of brooms and brushes, but it could
very well have other equally important uses. For instance, broomcorn stalks are
used for paper in France. Reportedly, excellent yields of fiber are obtained by
planting the crop very densely. The pulp is used to manufacture kraft paper,
newsprint, and fiberboard.
Danish scientists have also made a good paneling using the chips from
internodes. Similar products are beginning to be explored in Zimbabwe as well.
However, insufficient work has been done to really know the possibilities.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 210
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Chinese researchers are using tall sorghums for making plywood. The process
apparently works well and gives a product stronger than wood.
14
Dyes
Moroccan leather is said to get its color from red dye extracted from special
sorghums. These red-seeded varieties were raised in sub-Saharan Africa and in
the old days were sent across the Sahara to Fez or elsewhere by caravan. Natural
dyes (especially red ones) are increasingly in demand these days, so perhaps these
types could be commercially produced once more (see box, next page).
Resins
There is a black-grain sorghum from Africa called ''shawya" that shows
promise in producing industrial resins.
15
ANIMAL FEED
The United States probably leads the world in developing sorghum as a
feedstuff. The plant is now a vital animal feed throughout the nation's warmer
regions (see page 160).
Although it has been in the United States since the earliest days (see page
186), grain sorghum first became a major American crop in the 1930s, when
dwarf cultivars were bred. These lent themselves to large-scale operations and
combine harvesting, and the acreage began increasing. The grains were used
exclusively for feeding livestock and became so valuable for this purpose that by
shortly after World War II, sorghum had become the most important cash crop in
Texas and was a valuable resource in several other states as well.
Then in the late 1950s male sterility was discovered in sorghum (see page
163). This made hybrids possible. Sorghums that had originated in South Africa,
Ethiopia, and the Sudan were bred together to create hybrids, and yields jumped
as much as 40 percent. This led, in turn, to vastly more plantings and even more
American animals were soon living off sorghum grain.
16
Today, the country produces about 19 million tons of sorghum grain each
year, and millions of American cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys
14
Information from F.R. Miller.
15
Information from L.W. Rooney.
16
In 1957, about 15 percent of U.S. sorghum had been the hybrid form; within 2-3
years, the figure exceeded 90 percent.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 211
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RED SORGHUM RISING
In parts of West Africa people grow a form of sorghum that is inedible
(and may even be poisonous). The plant provides a windbreak around huts
and along the edges of fields, but more importantly it provides masses of
leaf sheaths. These rusty-colored, parchment-like wrappings, which
surround the leaf stems, provide pigments that are traditionally used to
color leather goods. Millions of suitcases, shoes, hats, baskets, book
covers, and other products get their brilliant red hues this way. The scarlet
flame of the famous "Moroccan leather" and of the fez have their origins in
this particular sorghum plant (race caudatum).
Traditionally, bundles of leaf sheaths were extracted in a difficult and
laborious cottage-industry process. Now, however, this time-consuming and
uncertain technique is being updated. In Burkina Faso, Mouhoussine
Nacro, head of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory at Ouagadougou
University, has been developing a new and more versatile version since
1989. Indeed, he is opening up the potential for producing sorghum dyes on
a massive scale.
Nacro's dye-extraction process uses simple techniques but modern
materials. Basically, he and his colleagues crush the sorghum sheaths, add
a solvent, separate the liquid emulsion, and centrifuge the result. This
produces the pure pigment as a burgundy-red powder that is ready for use
and can be safely stored.
The pigment, Professor Nacro has discovered, is a mixture of
anthocyanins. The main component, apigenin, is the same natural coloring
used by food industries in many parts of the world. Moreover, it is
increasingly sought these days because synthetic food dyes are suspected
of causing harm.
Red-sorghum leaf sheaths contain over 20 percent of the apigenin and
are said to be the only known source of such large concentrations. They
contain more than four times the amount in the skin of the red grape,
currently the most common source.
Burkina Faso's new process can easily be reproduced on an industrial
scale, and commercial production of dyes could result in a new and
valuable use for sorghumone that has widespread application throughout
the developing world, but especially in West Africa.
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 212
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are fattened on it. Production is centered in the Great Plains, and extends
over a vast area from the Gulf of Mexico to the Dakotas (see map, page 160).
But the crop is a more important feedstuff even than that. Only about two-
thirds of America's sorghum plants are harvested for grains, and most of the rest
also goes for animal feed. They, however, are turned into forage or silage or are
left in the fields for grazing. This use of foliage rather than grain developed after
sudangrass was introduced in about 1909. This grass sorghum has since been
hybridized with grain sorghums to yield the "sorghum-sudan" hybrids. These
crossbreeds are now widely used in the dry regions of the Plains states as well as
in the Southeast, where other forages are sometimes hit hard by midsummer
droughts and pests.
Although sorghum has advanced rapidly during the last 50 years, the fact
that Americans developed it mainly as a livestock feed is in some ways
unfortunate: the varieties typically had brown or red seed coats and are only
peripherally relevant to food production. Moreover, in the public mind the crop
became stigmatized as "animal food." Only now is there a nationwide glimmering
of appreciation for sorghum as something people can eat. Today, American
farmers are growing more and more of these food-grain sorghums, abandoning
the brown and red types and switching to those with yellow or white seeds.
17
Broom Corn
SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 213
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17
Even people who work with the crop think the name "sorghum" has too many bad
connotations in the American public's mind. Researcher Bruce Maunder has suggested the
name "sungrain," on the basis that the white. cream, and yellow grains are "sunlike" and
the grain is directly exposed to the sun's rays from pollination to harvest.
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SORGHUM: FUEL AND UTILITY TYPES 214
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12
TEF
Tef (Eragrostis tef) is a significant crop in only one country in the world
Ethiopia. There, however, its production exceeds that of most other cereals. Each
year, Ethiopian farmers plant almost 1.4 million hectares of tef,
1
and they produce
0.9 million tons of grain, or about a quarter of the country's total cereals.
2
The grain is especially popular in the western provinces, where people
prefer it to all other cereals and eat it once or twice (occasionally three times)
every day. In that area, tef contributes about two-thirds of the protein to a typical
diet.
Most tef is made into injera, a flat, spongy, and slightly sour bread that
looks like a giant bubbly pancake the size of a serving tray. People tear off pieces
and use them to scoop up spicy stews that constitute the main meals. For the
middle and upper classes it is the preferred staple; for the poor it is a luxury they
generally cannot afford.
Unlike many of the species in this book, tef is not in decline. Indeed, farmers
have steadily increased their plantings in recent years. The area cultivated rose
from less than 40 percent of Ethiopia's total cereal area in 1960 to more than 50
percent in 1980.
Tef is so overwhelmingly important in Ethiopia that its absence elsewhere is a
mystery. The plant can certainly be grown in many countries. Some has long been
produced for food in Yemen, Kenya (near Marsabit), Malawi, and India, for
example. Also, the plant is widely grown as a forage for grazing animals in South
Africa and Australia.
Now, however, the use of tef as a cereal for humans is transcending the
boundaries of Ethiopia. Commercial production has begun in both the United
States and South Africa, and international markets are opening up. This is
because Ethiopian restaurants have recently
1
The common name is often spelled "teff' or "t'ef' in English. We recommend "tef': it is
simple, unconfusing, and perhaps a good marketing name that might help the crop's future
expansion and acceptance worldwide.
2
According to statistics of the mid-1980s, tef produced 23 percent of Ethiopia's cereal
grain. The others were sorghum (26 percent), maize (21.7 percent), barley (17 percent),
and wheat (12.4 percent).
TEF 215
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TEF 216
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TEF 217
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become popular in both Europe and North America. Many cities (including
Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Rome, and Frankfurt,
not to mention Tel Aviv) now have restaurants that rely on injera, as well as the
convivial communal dining it fosters. And only tef can make authentic injera.
3
The new appreciation of tef is also extending into the research community.
These days scientists in Ethiopia and a few other countries are beginning to
seriously study the plant and its products.
This is all to the good. Tef has much more promise than has been previously
thought. It provides a quality food. It grows well under difficult conditions, many
of them poorly suited to other cereals. Even in its current state it gives fairly good
yields—about the same as wheat under traditional farming in Ethiopia. And it
usually produces grain in bad seasons as well as goodan invaluable attribute
for poor farmers and of special benefit to locations beset by changeable
conditions.
However, along with its advantages tef has serious drawbacks, mainly
stemming from its tiny seeds, high demands for labor, lack of development, and
difficult cultural practices. All in all, at this stage at least, it is neither easy to grow
nor easy to handle.
PROSPECTS
To chart tefs futureboth its course and final destination among world
cereals—cannot now be done with confidence. This will become clearer as the
current research efforts begin producing more results. Nonetheless, there are good
reasons for optimism that tef's technical limitations can be overcome and that it
can rise to be a specialty crop in a number of nations. It could happen quickly.
Indeed, injera is such a fascinating food (half pancake, half pasta) that it has the
potential to eventually become well-known worldwide.
4
Africa
In Ethiopia, the plant's stable yield under varying conditions, as well as the
grain's good storage properties, palatability, and premium prices, will likely make
tef ever more attractive.
5
However, although
TEF 218
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3
Injera can be made from other grains, but when made from tef it keeps its soft and
spongy texture for 3 days; when made from wheat, sorghum, or barley it hardens after only a
day. Buckwheat is perhaps the closest substitute.
4
Something similar is now happening with the tortilla, the round flat bread of Mexico
and Central America, which is being sold in supermarkets throughout the United States
and is also showing up ever more frequently in other parts of the world. On the open
market in Ethiopia, its grain always commands a price substantially above that of other
cereals.
5
On the open market in Ethiopia, its grain always commands a price substantially above
that of other cereals.
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INJERA
Perhaps the most intriguing of all the world's staples, injera is a bread
like no other. Moist, chewy, and almost elastic, it has a unique look and
feel. A very correct British gentleman visiting Ethiopia in the mid-1800s tried
to explain the experience of eating injera: "fancy yourself chewing a piece
of sour sponge," he said, "and you will have a good idea of what is
considered the best bread in Abyssinia." But these days people are not so
closed-minded. Indeed, the search for new tastes and new culinary
sensations is becoming a force that is opening up the food industries of
affluent nations. Injera is now winning converts all over the world. It is
served in fine restaurants in Europe, North America, and Israel and is
receiving an enthusiastic welcome.
TEF 219
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prospects for raising its production seem good, substantial increases will
probably occur only after its labor requirements are reduced.
Tef may also come to benefit other African countries, notably some that
today face food-production problems. The plant's resistance to diseases, pests, and
heavy soils give it special appeal.
Several of tef's relatives are valued forages in the world's arid zones,
6
and tef
itself might also have a future as a fodder. Indeed, in southern Africa it is already
used extensively, having originally fed the horses and oxen of the Boer War
almost a century ago. Tef hay is of such quality that South African farmers prefer
it over all others for feeding, their dairy cattle, sheep, and horses (see page 230).
Moreover, this grass is exciting South Africans as a "quick fix" for holding
down bare soil and thereby baffling erosion while more permanent ground covers
establish themselves.
Humid Areas
Prospects probably low. For Africa's humid areas, tef's prospects are
unknown because trials have not been conducted (or at least not reported).
However, the crop comes from a relatively dry environment and probably has
little or no potential in a hot and steamy one.
7
Dry Areas
Good prospects. Tef is a reliable cereal for unreliable climates, especially
those with dry seasons of unpredictable occurrence and length.
Upland Areas
Good prospects. Most of Ethiopia's tef is produced at moderate elevations,
but it has long been common on the high plateau and is being slowly introduced
to higher and higher locations. Its future contribution to the rural economy of
these and other African highlands appears to be substantial.
Other Regions
Tef holds promise for many countries beyond Africa. Mexico, Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Australia might well adopt it. In addition,
this plant's rapid maturity and inherent cold tolerance may open new areas of
grain cultivation for high latitudes where growing seasons are shortCanada,
Alaska, the Soviet Union,
6
These are usually called "love grasses" as reflected in the botanic name, which is
derived from Eros (god of love) and grostis (grass). Weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis
curvula), from southern Africa, is widely planted in the southwestern United States, for
example.
7
It is true that it is grown even in Ethiopia's Ilubabor province where the rainfall is very
high, but mostly on steep slopes that quickly shed the runoff.
TEF 220
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and northern China, for instance. It might also become important to Israel, which
has a rising Ethiopian population.
8
Some observers see tef as a promising new grain for the United States as
well. They point out that it is nutritious enough to be a "health" food and tasty
enough to be a gourmet food.
9
A company in Idaho already produces it on a
commercial scale and supplies markets nationwide (see box). Tef is also being
produced on farms in Oklahoma, where it is harvested by machine and sold under
contracts from food companies eager to buy it.
10
These experiences, limited as
they are, are probably laying the groundwork for a mass-produced specialty grain
that will remain a part of the American food system.
USES
Tef grain comes in a range of colors from milky white to almost black, but
its most popular colors are white, red, and brown. By and large, the darker the
color, the richer the flavor. Although blander in taste, the white seeds command
the highest prices. However, the red and brown seeds come from plants that are
hardier, faster maturing, and easier to grow. In addition, tef aficionados prefer
their more robust flavor.
Tef contains no glutenat least none of the type found in wheat. For this
reason, Americans with severe allergies to wheat gluten are among those buying
tef these days. Despite the seeming lack of this "rising" protein, injera is a puffy
product, somewhere between a flat bread and a raised one.
In Ethiopia, tef flour goes into more than just injera. Some is made into a
gruel (muk), some is baked into cakes and a sweet dry unleavened bread (kita),
and some is used to prepare homemade beverages. In the United States, it is
recommended as a good thickener for soups, stews, and gravies, and, at least
according to one promotional pamphlet, "its mild, slightly molasses-like
sweetness makes tef easy to include in porridge, pancakes, muffins and biscuits,
cookies, cakes, stir fry dishes, casseroles, soups, stews, and puddings."
11
As fodder, the tef plant is cheap to raise and quick to produce. Its straw is
soft and fast drying. It is both nutritious and extremely palatable to livestock. Its
leaf:stem ratio (average 73:27) is high, its
8
Israel in recent years has been importing tef from the United States, South Africa, and
Ethiopia.
9
"I am using it constantly in my cookingit makes most wonderful waffles and
pancakes, for example," notes botanist Fred Meyer of Washington, D.C.
10
Information from C.L. Evans.
11
A recent book, Whole Grain Gourmet, by R. Wood (William Morrow, 1991),
includes many up-scale tef recipes.
TEF 221
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NUTRITIONAL PROMISE
Main Components
Essential Amino Acids
Moisture (g) 11 Cystine 1.9
Food energy (Kc) 336 Isoleucine 3.2
Protein (g) 9.6 Leucine 6.0
Carbohydrate (g) 73 Lysine 2.3
Fat (g) 2.0 Methionine 2.1
Fiber (g) 3.0 Phenylalanine 4.0
Ash (g) 2.9 Threonine 2.8
Vitamin A (RE) 8 Tryptophan 1.2
Thiamin (mg) 0.30 Tyrosine 1.7
Riboflavin (mg) 0.18 Valine 4.1
Niacin (mg) 2.5
Vitamin C (mg) 88
Calcium (mg) 159
Chloride (mg) 13
Chromium (µg) 250
Copper (mg) 0.7
Iron (mg) 5.8
Magnesium (mg) 170
Manganese (mg) 6.4
Phosphorus (mg) 378
Potassium (mg) 401
Sodium (mg) 47
Zinc (mg)
2
Tef grains are reported to contain 9-11 percent protein, an amount
slightly higher than in normal sorghum, maize, or oats. However, samples
tested in the United States have consistently shown even higher protein
levels: 14-15 percent.
The protein's digestibility is probably high because the main protein
fractionsalbumin, glutelin, and globulinare the most digestible types.
The albumin fraction is particularly rich in lysine. Judging by the response
from Americans allergic to wheat, tef is essentially free of gluten, the protein
that causes bread to rise. Nonetheless, tef used in injera does ''rise" (see
page 219).
TEF 222
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The level of minerals is also good. The average ash content is 3
percent. Tef is reported rich in iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus.
The iron and calcium contents (11-33 mg and 100-150 mg, respectively) are
higher than those of wheat, barley, or sorghum. In Ethiopia, an absence of
anemia seems to correlate with the levels of tef consumption and is
presumed to be due to the grain's high content of iron.
However, some samples of tef have failed to show the extraordinary
levels of iron. Part of the iron may well come from dust and dirt that clings
almost uncannily to these tiny grains. Washed seeds have shown a level of
iron of about 6 mg, much less than the reported figures but still a
remarkable amount.
TEF 223
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digestibility (65 percent) relatively high, and its protein content (1.95.2
percent) low but nonetheless valuable. Ethiopian farmers rely on it to strengthen
their oxen at the end of winter, a time when fresh grass is unavailable but the
plowing season is coming on.
12
Tef has as much, or even more, food value than the major grains: wheat, barley, and
maize, for instance. However, this is probably because it is always eaten in the whole-grain
form: the germ and bran are consumed along with the endosperm.
In Ethiopia, tef straw is the preferred binding material for walls, bricks, and
household containers made of clay.
NUTRITION
Tef seeds appear similar to wheat in food value; however, they are actually
more nutritious. There are two reasons for this: (1) the seeds are so tiny that they
have a greater proportion of bran and germ (the outer portions where nutrients are
concentrated); and (2) because the seeds are so small, tef is almost always
produced as a whole-grain flour.
13
For a grain, tef is rich in energy (353-367 kcal per 100 g). Its fat content
averages about 2.6 percent.
In most samples, the protein content is as good as, or better than, that of
other cereals. It ranges from 8 to 15 percent, averaging 11 percent. The protein,
as in most cereals, is limited by its lysine level. Otherwise, however, it has an
excellent balance of essential amino acids.
14
Indeed, two nutritionists, having
surveyed all the common foods of Ethiopia, commented: "[W]e want to
draw attention to the high values for methionine and cystine found in tef. . . . The
protein from a mixture of tef and a pulse will give a near optimal amino acid
mixture with regard to both lysine and to the sulfur-containing amino acids."
15
The vitamin content seems to be about average for a cereal, but making
injera involves a short fermentation process, and the yeasts generate additional
vitamins. The value of the grain is thus enhanced.
The mineral content is also good (average ash content 3 percent). The iron
and calcium contents (0.011-0.033 percent and 0.1-0.15 percent) are especially
notable. In Ethiopia, an absence of anemia seems to correlate with the areas of tef
consumption, presumably due to the grain's good iron content.
12
Tef fodder is therefore a vital component of Ethiopia's whole farming system, a point
often overlooked by those who consider only the grain. Information from G. Jones.
13
Refined flour can be made, however. With appropriate screening it can be sifted away
from the bran and the germ. Information from W. Carlson.
14
In Ethiopia, it is said that a daily intake of one injera pancake supplies enough of
these amino acids to sustain life without another protein source; two are sufficient to
ensure good health.
15
It is notable that Ethiopians commonly mix fenugreek (abish), lentils, peas (ater). or
faba bean (bakela) with injera batter, a practice that satisfies this nutritional criterion.
TEF 224
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AGRONOMY
Ethiopian farmers grow tef either as a staple or as a standby. As a staple,
they plant it like other cereals, but they normally sow it late and harvest it well
into the dry season. As a standby, they wait until their main cropmaize,
sorghum, or maybe wheatshows signs of failing. Then they sow a fast-maturing
tef as a backup source of sustenance in case of disaster.
Even where other cereals offer reasonable reliability and substantially higher
yields, Ethiopian farmers still include a field or two of tef. Not only does it bring
them high prices, its late sowing date allows them to grow and harvest both
crops.
16
In Yemen, tef is known as a lazy man's crop: the farmers merely toss seed
onto moist soil following flash floods and then return after about 45 days to
collect the grain.
17
No matter how it is grown, tef requires little care once it is established. Its
rapid growth stifles most weeds; few diseases and pests attack it; and it is said to
produce well without added nutrients. However, in most places tef will respond to
fertilizers.
18
HARVESTING AND HANDLING
Tef threshes well with standard methods and equipment. Very early-
maturing types are ready to harvest in 45-60 days; early types in 60120 days; and
late types in 120-160 days.
Yields range from 300 to 3,000 kg per hectare, or even more. Although the
national average in Ethiopia is 910 kg per hectare, yields of 2,000-2,200 kg per
hectare are considered routinely attainable if good agronomic practices are
carefully followed. Yields of 2,000 kg per hectare have been achieved on South
African farms also, although storms have sometimes leveled the fields, resulting
in large losses.
19
The grain is easy to store and will survive for many years in traditional
storehouses without damage by insects. This makes it a valuable safeguard
against famine.
16
Information from Sue Edwards.
17
Information from H. Moss.
18
In South Africa it has been found that forage (and no doubt seed) yields improve
dramatically when up to 80 kg of nitrogen are added per hectare. However, the current
varieties put more growth into straw than seed, a feature not necessarily disliked by
farmers. Information from N.F.G. Rethman.
19
Information from N.F.G. Rethman.
TEF 225
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Injera, the most important bread in Ethiopian cooking, is normally made from tef. It is a thick spongy pancake in which
other food can be sandwiched or rolled. The pancakes are only a few mm thick but can be up to half a meter across. (Panos
picture)
TEF 226
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LIMITATIONS
The seeds are so small that this alone makes the crop hard to deal with. The
fields are tedious to prepare, and it is difficult to get an even stand. Also, wind or
rain can bury the minute seedling before it can establish itself. Threshing,
winnowing, and grinding such tiny seeds by hand is very laborious. Handling and
transporting them is also a problem because they tend to fall through any crack.
NEXT STEPS
Tef seems poised on the brink of becoming a resource for everyday foods,
gluten-free specialty items, animal feeds, and erosion control. Ethiopian farmers,
therefore, have much to teach nations the world over. The problem is that at this
point few people have recognized tef's qualities. Activities are needed to spark
interest and raise overall awareness of tefs status, potential, problems, and
requirements. These could begin, for example, with conferences, monographs,
newsletters, and publicity materials.
Although people in tef's homeland know more about the crop than anyone
else, it is unrealistic to expect that Ethiopia can spearhead such activities, at least
at present. An international global effort is called for. Luckily, tef is not a weed.
Trials can be conducted in different parts of the world with little hazard. Although
many countries could participate, the United States, South Africa, and Australia
especially could help pioneer the selection of types for trials and eventual use
worldwide.
Tef is also a challenge to the world's cereal scientists, agronomists, and food
chemists. It is an interesting new cereal that few people know of at present. It
seems to offer many possible benefits, but what its limits and potentials are in
practice is still very uncertain.
Germplasm Collection and Evaluation
The germplasm in Ethiopia is potentially of worldwide importance. Since
Ethiopia is the center of origin and the center of diversity for this crop, preserving
its diversity is a prerequisite for all tef improvement. Actually, several thousand
samples have already been collected. Although more undoubtedly remain,
perhaps the most urgent task is to characterize the tef lines already available.
Plant Breeding
Until very recently, crossing tef was tedious. It was constrained to a
few minutes at about dawn, and required supremely skillful personnel. Now,
however, techniques have been developed that make the process quite
straightforward and routine.
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TEF PIONEERS
Until recently, Ethiopia's official commitment to tef research has been
small compared with its investment in wheat, maize, and sorghum.
However, several organizations have devoted their own efforts to boost the
crop.
Both the Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre of Alemaya
University of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Research at Holleta
Research Station near Addis Ababa have produced high-yield strains.
Some of these get so heavy with grain that the stalk collapses.* Research is
now under way to develop varieties with short, stiff straw to create high-
yielding tefs that can benefit from heavy fertilizer use and irrigation without
collapsing.
The Institute for Agricultural Research has also done research on tef
with encouraging results at Debre Zeit. It has developed a variety, DZ
01-946, which has given yields of 1.78 tons per hectare.
There has also been increasing international interest. In England,
London University's Wye College is doing systematic breeding. In Israel, the
Volcani Centre is carrying out tef research trials. And in the United States,
Wayne and Elizabeth Carlson of Caldwell, Idaho, have been developing
cultivars and processing techniques for farmers both domestic and foreign
(see box, opposite).
* This was a problem with early high-yielding wheats until short-stemmed varieties were
bred in Mexicoa combination that led to the Green Revolution varieties that for 20 years
have fed the added millions in Asia who would otherwise have starved.
A program of tef improvement by plant breedingcombining the desirable
qualities of several parents in a planned waymight well bring big advances.
Objectives include early maturity, short and stiff straw, disease resistance, and
higher harvest index.
20
One variety created in Ethiopia has yielded 3,560 kg per
hectare.
Other targets for improving the crop, especially for large-scale commercial
production, include larger grain size, less shattering of seeds, and quicker drying
seeds.
21
Agronomy
In Ethiopia, large yield improvements can be achieved by applying
techniques that are already known: careful land prepara
20
A variety called "munité" seems especially valuable in this regard because it is very
short (40 cm), early maturing, and has a high harvest index.
21
The ability to harvest drier seeds (than possible at present) would likely reduce
harvest losses and increase tefs acceptance by farmers worldwide.
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TEF IN THE UNITED STATES
Wayne and Elizabeth Carlson are among the handful of non-Ethiopians
who have begun growing tef for food. The crop is thriving on their farm near
Caldwell, Idaho. In the harsh, dry valley on the Idaho-Oregon border, their
fields are now producing Ethiopia's favorite food grain.
Wayne became aware of tef while working as a biologist in Ethiopia. On
returning to the United States, he planted some. Within 5 years the
Carlsons had progressed from growing a few varieties in their backyard to
harvesting 200 acres of four selected strains, as well as threshing, milling,
and packaging thousands of kilos of tef seed each year.
The Carlsons' tef flour now goes to natural-food markets nationwide as
well as to the numerous Ethiopian restaurants that have been springing up
in major cities to serve Americans as well as an estimated 50,000 Ethiopian
immigrants and students. Their long-range goal is to make tef a new option
among America's cereal crops.
Tef's homeland has not been overlooked. Each year the Carlsons
return a portion of the grains they have bred to Ethiopia for trials and for
farmers. Last year, they donated 16,000 kg of seed to a relief agency for
planting in Ethiopia.
Wayne Carlson says that the Western world should pay more attention
to tef. For centuries the plant's adaptability and nutritional value have
helped Ethiopian highlanders maintain their independence in the harsh
surroundings in which they live, he notes.
TEF 229
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tion, use of selected seeds, fertilization, sowing and weeding at the optimum
time, and disease and pest control, for example. Yields can also be increased by
mechanization. Sowing methods require special attention.
TEF IN TRANSVAAL
In 1886, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, obtained tef seed
from Abyssinia and distributed it to various botanic gardens and other
institutions in India and the colonies. In its first issue (1887), Kew's Bulletin
of Miscellaneous Information advocated introducing the crop "to certain hill
stations in India, to elevated portions of our colonial empire, and indeed to
all places where maize and wheat cannot be successfully cultivated."
These efforts stimulated tef trials in various parts of Africa, Asia, and
Australia. As a result, many reports on the plant's performance were
received.
Perhaps the most effective introduction was to the Transvaal (which
was not then under direct British control). Growers there found that "it
makes very rapid growth, maturing in seven or eight weeks from the time of
sowing, and if cut before the seed develops, a second crop can be obtained
from the same stand; it makes an excellent catch-crop for hay, two
successive cuttings being obtainable during the summer on unirrigated
land. The plants seed heavily, our yield of seed from a small plot has been
at the rate of about three-fourths ton per acre [1.875 tons per hectare]; the
seedlings are not readily scorched by the intense heat of summer. On
account of the soft, thin straw, it dries and cures very quickly."
But despite the good results, tef took off only by a fluke. As is usually
the case with new farm crops, it did not sell well when first offered. The
story goes that a farmer, having more tef hay than he required, sent the
surplus to the Johannesburg market. It sold poorlynone of the buyers
knowing the stuffand it finally went for animal bedding. It is softer than the
ordinary bedding (normally cut from sedges and Arundinella eckloni), and a
buyer
Ornamentals
There is now an explosion of interest in ornamental grasses in Europe, the
United States, and Japan. With its upright, compact habit, its often brilliantly
colored leaves (many color combinations are possible), and open feathery
panicles, tef is exceptionally
TEF 230
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attractive. The development of selected strains might create a small but profitable
market niche as an ornamental.
22
selected one lot for a racing stable. Rumor has it that the stable owner
found his racers eating their bedding in preference to their feed! To his
surprise they also began to put on condition. Then he bought up all the tef
on the market and called for more. Others soon got wind of this and the
price rose. Tef was accepted and became a fodder of notable importance to
the Transvaal in the early twentieth century. (For instance, during the Boer
War it probably fed the horses on both sides.)
"Tef has raised scores of small Transvaal farmers from poverty to
comparative comfort, and has been largely instrumental in putting the dairy
industry of the Witwatersrand on its feet," wrote Joseph Burtt Davy in the
Kew Bulletin of 1913. "The opinion has been expressed by our farmers that
'if the Division of Botany of the Department of Agriculture had done nothing
else, the introduction and establishment of tef as a farm-crop would have
more than paid South Africa the whole cost of the Division for the ten years
of its existence.' "
In the Transvaal, as well as in other parts of South Africa, tef is often
sown with its relative, weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula). This
perennial has been developed in South Africa into an almost incredible
array of types for land protection and reclamation purposes. It is providing
outstanding erosion control on toxic, dry, degraded, and infertile slag heaps
and other problem sites where nothing previously would grow. As an
erosion-fighting plant, weeping lovegrass is better than tef because it is a
perennial whose natural staying power keeps the land covered as the
seasons go by. But while tef may not be good at such a ''long-distance
event," it is very good as a "sprinter." Thus tef is used to produce a fast
cover that protects the site while its slower cousin is finding its legs.
Forages
In South Africa various productive races have been selected for hay
production. These deserve to be exploited elsewhere. Also, it seems likely that a
wealth of new types, adapted to many
22
This possibility is already being explored in the United States. Information from W.
Carlson.
TEF 231
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different conditions, can be created from Ethiopia's broad germplasm base.
Erosion Control
It seems likely that demand will increase worldwide for nonweedy annual
grasses that can serve as temporary ground covers. South Africans are now using
tef as a "nurse crop" that quickly covers the ground and fosters the establishment
of perennial grasses sown along with it. This should be tested elsewhere, too. In
South Africa it is already used in mixtures to protect road cuts, open-cast mine
workings, stream banks, and other erodible sites.
23
Black Cotton Soils
Tef has evolved on the Ethiopian highlands on vertisol (black cotton) soils
that frequently get waterlogged. Few other cereals can be grown there. In fact, tef
is able to withstand wet conditions perhaps better than any cereal other than rice.
It even grows in partly waterlogged plots, as well as on acidic soils.
24
Vertisols are a problem in many parts of the tropics. They are cracking clays
that regularly heave and sag and split.
25
Few crop plants can withstand such soil
abuse. Tef might be a savior for such sites. India, in particular, has vast areas of
these "impossible" soils.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Botanical Name
Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter
Synonyms
Poa abyssinica Jacq.; Eragrostis abyssinica (Jacq.) Link
Common Names
Afrikaans: tef, gewone bruin tef (ou bruin)
Arabic: tahf
English: tef, teff, Williams lovegrass
Ethiopia: tafi (Oromo/Afar/Sodo), tafe-e (Had); t'ef, teff, taf(Amarinya,
Tigrinya languages)
French: mil éthiopien
Malawi: chimanganga, ndzungula (Ch), chidzanjala (Lo)
23
It is often sown with its relative Eragrostis curvula. This perennial has been
developed in South Africa into an almost incredible array of types for land protection and
reclamation purposes. They are providing outstanding erosion control on toxic, dry,
degraded, and infertile slag heaps and other problem sites where nothing previously would
grow. (Information from J.J.P. van Wyk, see research contacts.)
24
Information from H. Kreiensiek.
25
Early in the growing season, these soils become waterlogged and go anaerobic; later
they crack and dry out, breaking off the roots of plants that have survived the trauma. They
also get so gooey during the rains that machinery and people cannot move across them.
TEF 232
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Description
Tef is an annual tufted grass, 30-120 cm high, with slender culms and long,
narrow, smooth leaves. It is shallow-rooted. Its inflorescence is a loose or
compact panicle. The extremely small grains are 1-1.5 mm long, and there are
2,500-3,000 seeds to the gram.
The plant employs the C4 photosynthetic pathway, using light efficiently
while having low moisture demands. It is a tetraploid with a chromosome number
of 2n = 40.
Distribution
Tef was grown in Ethiopia before recorded history and its domestication and
early use is lost in antiquity. Its most likely ancestor is Eragrostis pilosa, a wild
species that looks very similar and has the same chromosome number. Samples
claimed to be tef have been found in the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. The
plant is still harvested in the wildand wild tef is eaten, sometimes on a
considerable scale, in mixtures with other wild grains (see wild grains chapter,
page 251).
Cultivated Varieties
There are many different types of tef. The narrow panicled "muri" (rat-
tailed) types and the dwarf, semi-prostrate and short-lived "dabi" types, for
example. Both of these differ strikingly from the tall, loose-panicled varieties that
are most commonly grown.
As noted, three main color types are recognized in Ethiopia:
White tef (thaf hagaiz). This slow-maturing form is grown in the cool
season. It is superior for grain. However, it makes higher demands on the
soil and can be grown only below 2,500 m altitude. In South Africa this
type is being developed as an export grain.
Red and brown tefs. These are quick maturing and superior for fodder. In
Ethiopia they are usually grown above 2,500 m. Elevation seems
irrelevant, however, because this is the type being used in South Africa as a
fodder crop.
Environmental Requirements
Daylength
The exact requirements are unknown. In South Africa the plant seeds freely
between 22 and 35°S latitude (average daylength, 12 hours). In Ethiopia, the
latitude is between 5°N and 10°N (daylength, 11-13 hours).
TEF 233
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BRINGING THE DEAD TO LIFE . . . . . . JUST ADD WATER
Although the seeds of many flowering plants can survive complete
dehydration, all other plant parts die when they dry. Certain plants,
however, have the seemingly miraculous ability to recover from
desiccation. Within hours of being watered, their leaves, stems, and
sometimes even flowers spring back to life. Tissues that were brown and
seemingly irreparably damaged take up a healthy green color and resume
active growth once again.
No one knows how many species can defy drought in this way, but it is a
small number, and at least four of them are African grasses related to tef.
This suggests that crossbreeding them with tef might yield hybrids
combining the qualities of a good cereal with the ability to withstand the
ultimate drought.
This fascinating possibility of a fail-safe crop that can bounce back from
complete desiccation is being studied by Australian plant physiologist Don
Gaff.* So far, his biggest problem (other than getting funds for such far-out
research) has been to get tef to breed with its "resurrection relatives."
Fertility barriers between the species are too high for natural pollination, so
Gaff has adopted a process known as "somatic hybridization." Using
electrical pulses, he induces cells from the leaves to fuse as if they were
normal pollen and egg cells. To accomplish this, he must first strip the cells
of their cellulose walls. The fused cells resulting from this forced marriage
can be regenerated into whole plants using the techniques of tissue culture.
Although only at the beginning of this challenging work, Gaff has
already found four eligible partners for tef. These are:
Eragrostis paradoxa. A rare species collected in Zimbabwe, this relatively
low-growing grass with very fine leaves has remarkable resilience and
has survived growing on soils only 1 cm deep.
Eragrostis hispida. This species, too, was from Zimbabwe and is taller
and has broad, hair-covered leaves.
Eragrostis nindensis. A vigorous grower, widely distributed in Namibia
and other arid areas of southern Africa, this wild tef is locally valued as
sheep fodder.
Eragrostis invalida. Gaff's sample of this perennial was collected in the
Tingi Mountains near the Niger River's source in Sierra Leone. Tallest of
the four, it is still only 60 cm high; short rhizomes assist its clumps to
spread.
* Don F. Gaff, Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology, Monash University,
Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
TEF 234
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Rainfall
The average annual rainfall in tef-growing areas is 1,000 mm, but the range
is from 300 to 2,500 mm. Tef resists moderate drought, but most cultivars require
at least three good rains during their early growth and a total of 200 to 300 mm of
water. Some rapid-maturing cultivars can obtain the 150 mm they need
from water retained in soils at the end of the normal growing season. Most tef in
South Africa is planted in the 500-800 mm summer rainfall zone.
Altitude
Tef can be grown from near sea level to altitudes over 3,000 m. It is
particularly valued for areas too cold for sorghum or maize.
26
It has a wider
altitudinal range than any other cereal in Ethiopia. Most is cultivated between
1,100 and 2,950 m.
Low Temperature
While tef has some frost tolerance, it will not survive a prolonged freeze.
High Temperature
Tef tolerates temperatures (at its lower altitudinal range) well above 35°C.
27
Soil Type
Tefs tolerance of soil types seems to be very wide. As noted, it performs
well even on the black cotton soils that are notoriously hostile to crops and
farmers. In fact in South Africa it is already very popular on such soils.
28
Soil
acidities below pH 5 are apparently no problem for tef.
29
26
In Lesotho, for instance, it occurs at altitudes up to 2,000 m, where temperatures drop
to -15°C. Information from H. Kreiensiek.
27
It is, for example, grown with irrigation at Gode on the Wadi Shebele River in the
Ogaden where the temperature reaches 50°C.
28
The farmers, however, use twice the normal seeding rate. Information from N.F.G.
Rethman.
29
Information from H. Kreiensiek.
TEF 235
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13
Other Cultivated Grains
Some of the neglected cereals described previouslysorghum, finger
millet, and pearl millet, for exampleare not, strictly speaking, "lost." But there
are a number of African food grains that are indeed truly overlooked by all of
modern science. Most of these come from wild grasses (see next chapter), but
some are from plants cultivated by farmers on at least a small scale. These last,
Africa's least known grain crops, are discussed here.
GUINEA MILLET
Guinea millet (Brachiaria deflexa) is perhaps the world's most obscure
cereal crop. It is cultivated by farmers only in the Fouta Djallon plateau, a rather
remote region of northwestern Guinea. Little, if anything, has been done to
improve this crop, yet where it is grown the people value it highly. They grind its
soft seeds into a flour, which is used for cakes and fritters.
Although this domesticated plant is grown only in this one area of the
Guinea highlands, the wild form is spread throughout the Sahelian zone from
Senegal to the Horn of Africa as well as in coastal savannas from Ivory Coast to
Cameroon. This wild form is also harvested for food.
1
The main difference
between the two is that the cultivated type has much larger grains and is
nonshattering (holds its seeds).
This plant grows to about I m tall, and looks so much like fonio (see Chapter 3)
that for decades it was classified as just a special fonio variety.
2
However, it has
botanical differences and bears larger grains.
Although unstudied by agronomists, guinea millet appears to have useful
characteristics. For instance, some types mature so quickly
1
Another wild relative (Brachiaria stigmatisata), found from the Gambia to the Sudan,
is widely gathered as a cereal as well.
2
This was previously considered a cultivar of fonio (Digitaria exilis, see fonio chapter,
page 59). Locally, it is often called "fonio with thick seeds."
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 237
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Brachiaria species, thought to be guinea millet, growing in Fouta Djallon region
of Guinea. (B. Simpson)
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 238
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they take only 70-75 days from planting to harvest (most, however, require
90-130 days). Commonly, farmers use these fast-maturing guinea millets to fill in
any gaps in their fields of sorghum, maize, or other grains. This allows them to
get a full harvest from those fields.
3
To achieve truly quick growth, however, a
rich and well-drained soil is required.
Guinea millet deserves recognition and attention from scientists and others
interested in helping food production and agriculture across West Africa. Despite
its current obscurity, it just might have a big future both there and in other
regions.
EMMER
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum) is not strictly African; it is a wheat that
originated in the Near East. Indeed, it was one of the first cereals ever
domesticated
4
and was part of the early agriculture of the Fertile Crescent.
Farmers had it in fields perhaps as far back as 10,000 years ago. For several
thousand years it remained a major cereal throughout the Middle East and North
Africa. Then people switched to durum wheatthe type now used worldwide to
make spaghetti, macaroni, and other pastas. In fact, durum wheat (Triticum
turgidum var. durum) probably originated from emmer by mutation. Farmers
preferred it because its grain was free-threshing (the seed fell out of its husk quite
easily), and during the past 2,000 years or so the older form, emmer, became an
abandoned waif.
Despite its Middle Eastern origin, emmer nonetheless has an ancient African
heritage. It reached Ethiopia probably 5,000 years ago, perhaps more, and it
survives there to this day.
5
Whereas it virtually disappeared elsewhere, emmer
comprises almost 7 percent of Ethiopia's entire wheat production. Even in what is a
major, modern, wheat-growing region, it remains important. Indeed, far from
abandoning it, farmers in Ethiopia's highlands have over the last 40 years
increased the percentage of emmer that they grow.
6
Emmer, locally known as aja, is used in various ways. Some is ground into a
flour and baked into a special bread (kita). Some is crushed and cooked with milk
or water to make a porridge (genfo). And some is mixed with boiling water and
butter to produce a gruel. With emmer's high protein content and smooth, easily
digested starch, the gruel is especially favored by invalids and nursing mothers.
3
Portères, 1976.
4
Together with two-rowed barley (see page 245) and einkorn (Triticum
monococcum). which, like emmer, is a predecessor of modern wheat.
5
It also survives as a crop in a small way in Yugoslavia, India, Turkey, Germany
(Bavaria), France, and other countries. Information from J. Harlan.
6
Tesemma, 1986.
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 239
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RESURRECTING BIBLICAL WHEATS
Emmer (see previous page) is just one of several ancient wheats that
could help the modern world. Two others are being rescued in Europe. The
efforts summarized below could be the spur for similar endeavors to bring
emmer back as a major crop as well.
Einkorn
Until recently everyone thought that einkorn, perhaps the earliest of all
cultivated wheats, was essentially extinct. But in 1989, botanist Jacques
Barrau reported the following experience in the south of France.
"In 1971, I decided to look at all the food plants in the mountains of
Vaucluse, where my father's family had its origin. From childhood
memories, I knew that a kind of porridge was a popular peasant dish there
in winter. I started looking for the cereal used for that purpose and found to
my surprise that it was the neolithic [Stone Age] einkorn, Triticum
monococcum. The crop was still being grown there, as well as in some
localities in the Southern Alps, as a subsistence cereal of which the
unground grain was used to prepare this special porridge. This was
unknown to my learned friends in French agricultural research.
"Today, this relict prehistoric wheat is beginning to find markets as a
'natural health-food,' and it sells at a price rather satisfying for the stubborn
traditional growers who, through generations, had kept it in cultivation, just
to satisfy their lasting taste for this porridge."
Spelt
For the Stone Age inhabitants of what is now south Germany, spelt
(Triticum spelta) was the main food source. Later, however, this primitive
winter cereal was abandonednot because of inferiority but because
farmers found other wheats easier to grow. For one thing, spelt's grain had a
close-fitting husk that made it harder to thresh, and its very long straw
meant that summer winds could blow the plants down.
Now, spelt (or dinkel as it is usually called in Germany) is coming back
as a crop. In this case, the driving forces behind its return are modern
consumer preferencesnotably the rising appreciation for good nutrition
and for protecting the environment. Nutritionally speaking, spelt is very
exciting. Breadmaking wheats in northern Europe generally contain around
11 percent
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 240
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protein. Spelt averages between 14 and 15 percent; some types have
even exceeded 17 percent. The grain also has greater concentrations of
minerals and vitamins. Even with its lower yield, spelt can produce more
protein per hectare than modern breadwheat. And a growing number of
consumers are acclaiming the ''nutty" taste of products baked from spelt
flour.
Spelt's environmental advantages are proving even more important.
"The kernel is protected against fungi or insects by the close-fitting husk,"
explains Christof Kling, head of wheat breeding at Hohenheim University in
Stuttgart. "This means the crop is very appropriate for use in
environmentally sensitive areas or where farmers want to use less
pesticide, or even none at all."
In the old days, when people had to thresh grain by hand, the very
attribute that helps to protect the grain against pests and diseasesthe
close-fitting huskwas an overwhelming disadvantage. But in our
mechanized era it is inconsequential.
Like einkorn and emmer, spelt never disappeared entirely, but until
recently it was grown in only a few isolated pockets in Germany, Belgium,
Switzerland, and Austria. Now all that has changed. In fact, enthusiasm for
this long-lost grain is so high that spelt in the early 1990s is being cultivated
on over 6,000 hectares in Germany alone. Indeed, a special organization
(the Dinkelacker Foundation) has been established to help foster this
prodigal son's return from the Stone Age.
Emmer
Recently, researchers in Syria have become excited over emmer.
Samples gathered from different parts of the country grew surprisingly well
when planted at two ecologically different locations (Tel Hadya and Breda).
A wealth of qualities soon became apparent. The researchers concluded
that their samples were: "an important genetic reservoir of variability for
useful characters such as earliness, short stem, high number of fertile tillers
[see picture overpage], long spikes, dense spikes, high number of seeds
per spike, weight of kernels per spike, and protein content."
They also noted that most of the emmers exhibited traits suitable for
cultivation in the arid areas. "Tolerance to drought is also one of [the] traits,
which could be used in breeding wheat for the dry areas," they said.
* This work was conducted by S. Hakim and M. Y. Moualla at Tishreen University,
Lattakia, and by A. B. Damania at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the
Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo.
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 241
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Emmer. This sample, with its remarkable number of separate seedheads
(tillers), was discovered by researchers in Syria when a small collection of
emmer seeds was planted at two ecologically different locations (see previous
page). In addition to having more than 20 seedheads, this plant tolerates drought
and its grain has a protein content of 18-21 percent. (A.B. Damania)
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 242
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This "cereal that refuses to die" deserves better treatment from science and
commerce. Its economic importance in Ethiopia alone makes it worthy of
research attention. However, there might also be worldwide interest. Already,
small projects to restore it to widespread modern use are under way in the United
States and France (see box). The plant grows in a wide range of environments and
can be produced in many parts of the world. The fact that it is the wheat family's
"living fossil," little changed from wheat eaten in the times of the Bible and the
Koran could give it special consumer appeal. But it can also stand on its own
culinary merits. Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) wrote that emmer wheat makes the
"sweetest bread," and even today its virtues are hailed with similar plaudits.
On the face of it, emmer might also benefit the world's wheat-breeding
programs. Already, its genes have conferred on the American wheat crop
resistance to rust, a virulent fungal disease that in earlier times periodically
devastated the nation's food supply.
7
Its other desirable characteristics include
early maturity, drought resistance, and a high protein content.
BARLEY
Although barley (Hordeum vulgare) is probably not a native of Africa
either, it also has been used in Ethiopia for at least 5,000 years. Indeed, Ethiopian
barleys have been isolated so long that two of them, irregular barley and deficient
barley, were for a time considered distinct species.
Among these two genotypes, as well as among the rest of the diversity of
barley forms, can be found a wealth of promising types in addition to genes for
use in the world's barley crop. In fact, Ethiopia's assorted barleys are said to be a
vital part of its cultural heritage. Under normal circumstances each family sticks
tenaciously to its own seed stock. Thus, over thousands of years, each family's
stocks have evolved along separate and divergent lines and a vast diversity has
resulted. Today, the fields are amazingly rich in different types. In fact, each
farmer usually cultivates complex mixtures or even separate plots of quite
distinct barleys.
Barley ranks third in terms of area (after tef and sorghum) in Ethiopia.
However, its value goes far beyond just economics and nutrition. It is, in fact,
deeply rooted in the cultural life. The Oromo people, for instance, consider it the
holiest of crops. Their songs and
7
For example, severe rust epidemics wiped out vast acreages of wheat in 1904, 1918,
1935, and 1953, each time sowing fear and high prices. In 1918, the harvest was so bad
that the U.S. government had to declare "wheatless days," on which no wheat products
could be sold.
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 243
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ETHIOPIAN BARLEY IN NEW MEXICO
Although Ethiopia's barley is all but unknown elsewhere, at least one
overseas group has attempted to grow it, and with considerable success. In
the dry southwestern quarter of the United States, the Ghost Ranch, a
facility sponsored by the Presbyterian church, has been growing it as one
of its main cereal crops since 1983. Following are comments by the farm's
manager. The photograph was taken after the 1991 harvest.
We grow Ethiopian barley at our experimental farm in the northern
mountains of New Mexico. We grow it for three main reasons: it matures
quickly (about 110 days); it is hull-less; and it is the most drought-tolerant
grain we've ever had. In addition, it has been almost trouble free. We've
never experienced a problem with lodging. The plant tillers very well and
produces good yields in most years. We haven't had any problems with
disease, which might be only because our farm is isolated and the nearest
barley grower is about 50 km away.
We thresh the dry grain in a small homemade threshing machine or an
old combine employed as a stationary thresher. It threshes easily. The seed
is then cleaned in a seed-cleaning machine. (Both the threshing machine
and the seed cleaner run off our solar electric system.) The grain mills
nicely and produces a flour that has good baking and eating qualities.
Lynda S. Prim
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 244
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sayings often feature this "king of grains." Everyone in the highlands
encourages children to consume lots of barley. It makes them brave and
courageous, they say.
8
Ethiopians turn barley into bread, porridge, soup, beer, and many other
foods. A favorite snack is roasted unripe barley seed. Several types are made into
various barley-water drinks, most of them nonalcoholic.
9
These beverages (made
of water infusions of roasted and ground grains) are highly valued. Also, some
intoxicating liquors (areuie ) are home brewed from barley grains.
Ethiopians draw clear associations between each grain type and its use. The
white large-grained forms are preferred for porridges. The white, black, or purple
large-grained types are made into bread and other baked foods. Partially naked
grains are usually roasted or fried. Small-grained types (mainly black and purple)
are used for beverages.
Barley is also important to the country's livestock. The grain itself is
sometimes fed. (Wealthy farmers, for instance, use it to fatten horses and mules
before and after long journeys or to strengthen cattle before the plowing season
or going to market.) But more commonly, the animals end up eating the straw.
Finely broken barley straw is also employed in constructing mud walls.
For all its importance, however, Ethiopia's barley production can be
strengthened. A vast store of indigenous germplasm has yet to be tapped. Indeed,
some of it is being lost. (This genetic erosion is happening mainly as farmers
switch to crops such a bread wheat, tef, and recently, oats.)
Some of Ethiopia's barley could be made more useful by genes of the
barleys developed elsewhere in the world. But the multitude of local types offer
great opportunities on their own accounts. Many are unique. Even the number of
rows of grains on the seedhead (spike) can be unique. Everywhere else in the
world, barleys have exactly two rows or six rows. However, Ethiopia's irregular
barley has two full rows as well as parts of other rows. And its deficient barley
has two full rows, but the lateral spikelets are greatly reduced or are wanting
entirely.
Although essentially unknown elsewhere, irregular barley
10
ranks fourth
among Ethiopia's crops, both in quantity produced and area planted.
11
At altitudes
above 2,500 m it is usually the only cereal that
8
The ancients had similar traditions. Greeks, for example, are said to have fed much
barley to gladiators. Roman gladiators were called "hordearii" in the belief that barley was
the source of their strength.
9
A popular trail food is roasted and ground barley. The traveler can stop at any stream,
stir the powder into a cup or gourd of water, and have "instant barley water."
10
It is also known as Abyssinian intermediate barley. It occurs also in Yemen, Arabia,
and Egypt, but only as a very minor crop.
11
Hailu and Pinto, 1977.
OTHER CULTIVATED GRAINS 245
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THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLETS
Whereas today's most reliable approach to advancing little-known
grains is conventional plant breeding, biotechnology might soon be able to
leapfrog much of the tedious and time-consuming toil traditionally involved
in creating new varieties. Here we identify a few possibilities.
Because they are well known in scientifically advanced countries,
wheat, rice, maize, and (to a lesser extent) sorghum have benefited from
high-tech research. Millets, however, remain almost exclusively resources
of countries with little or no basic research capacity. Millets have therefore
barely benefited from the latest instruments and techniques. Given such
attention, it seems likely that they can be leapfrogged into the twenty-first
century using biotechnology.
This is especially important to Africa, where the needs are so vast and
diverse, the resources so few, the time so pressing, the conditions so
changeable, and the priorities so uncertain that conventional plant
breeding, which can take 10-12 years to perfect a new variety, may not be
up to the task. Certainly, its ability to breed for genetically complex
attributes such as drought tolerance is limited. Moreover, in environments
such as the Sahel, where climatic variables far outweigh genetic ones,
plant breeding is all but impossible to do in the normal way in field trials.
When it comes to Africa, then, biotechnology could have a huge
impact. For example, breeding can be done more quickly, it can be done
indoors in controlled environments, and it can be done with greater
precision. Increasingly, biotechnology can deal with genetically complex
traits. In sum, technologies such as tissue culture, anther culture, embryo
rescue, protoplast fusion, and genetic markers are likely to bring undreamed
of breakthroughs that will transform Africa's native grains.
The key to this gene revolution is to develop tissue-culture techniques
for each of Africa's grains. If scientists can grow mature, fertile plants from
tissues of pearl millet, finger millet, fonio, irregular barley, and tef, they will
open doors to the more rapid development of these cereals. Grasses are
difficult to cultureso difficult, in fact, that not long ago they were
considered impossiblebut rice, maize, sorghum, and vetiver have already
succumbed and can be grown routinely in tissue culture. Now it seems
likely that the right conditions can be discovered for the others.
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Once tissue culture has been established, a major challenge will be to
"map" the chromosomes using genetic "markers." Knowing the physical
location of particular genes will result in many shortcuts to improved
strains. This is particularly because thousands of young seedlings can be
tested for the presence of specific genes, rather than waiting for the genes
to express themselves in the mature plant. It will also allow desirable genes
to be more easily transferred, and undesirable ones to be eliminated. The
markers could be provided by the restriction-fragment length polymorphism
(RFLP) technique (see box, page 34), a process already being applied to
maize, barley, and rice.
Following are examples of the gains to be achieved:
Drought Resistance. Breeding drought-resistant varieties has always
been difficult because researchers had no way to determine genetic
influences on the basic mechanisms of drought injury and tolerance. In
basic studies, biotechnology is now helping to show how water stress
affects the physiological, biochemical, and molecular organization of plants
during their various life stages.
In future, the new techniques could target the genes that govern rooting
depth, water extraction, and root penetration of compacted soil layers. Once
identified and mapped, the genes for these characteristics (which are
extremely difficult to evaluate in the field) could be readily tracked in
breeding programs. This would lead to crops with much higher drought
tolerance.
Striga. An ability to manipulate the genes that attract or repel the striga
parasite could boost cereal yields continent-wide.
Hybrids. Biotechnology would make it much easier to make hybrids
within and between species. This might be brought about through chemical
hybridizing agents, through clonally propagating sterile seed, or through
embryo rescue.
As work progresses on the major crops in the world's most
sophisticated laboratories, millets should not be overlooked. Pioneers
pushing the frontiers of gene manipulation in wheat, maize, and rice, for
example, should not leave the millets trailing so far behind that they will be
abandoned willy-nilly. Actually, the high-tech equipment and powerful
genetic tools could likely help make major advances in millets and thereby
bring more humanitarian benefits than in all the rest of the work.
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can be cultivated satisfactorily. It is very important throughout most of the
upper highlands, for example, where it accounts for about 60 percent of the
population's total plant food. Farmers in that area rely on fast-maturing types to
save their families from starving during food shortages.
This is just one example of the genetic wealth to be found among Ethiopia's
barleys. Other traits include:
High yields. Some Ethiopian barleys have big and heavy kernels, some
plants tiller (send up multiple shoots and seedheads) very well, and others
mature quickly.
High nutrition. Some have high levels of protein and a few are high in
lysine and are thus exceptionally nutritious. They are the only known
source of quality-protein barley.
12
Disease resistance. Several have resistance to diseases such as powdery
mildew, leaf rust, net blotch, Septoria, scald, spot blotch, loose smut,
barley yellow dwarf virus, and barley stripe mosaic virus.
Drought resistance. Many have the ability to grow under dry conditions
a feature apparently related to deep and efficient root types.
Tolerance to marginal soils.
Resistance to barley shoot fly and aphids.
Vigorous seedling establishment.
On the other hand, Ethiopia's barleys tend to blow down easily due to weak
straw and tall, spindly growth. Some specimens suffer from the condition known
as "fragile rachis," in which the seed spike breaks apart and spills the seeds on the
ground.
The outside world's barley breeders have not neglected Ethiopia's materials.
For example, they employ the accession called Jet (jetblack seeds) to obtain
resistance to loose smut, a severe fungal disease. In the United States and several
other countries they have employed the genes for resistance to the extremely
damaging barley yellow dwarf virus, leading to great savings in grain yields. But
many more useful types remain to be employed both at home and abroad.
ETHIOPIAN OATS
Ethiopia also has a native oats, Avena abyssinica. Partially domesticated in
the distant past, this species is largely nonshatteringthat is, it retains most of its
grain so farmers can harvest them conveniently.
12
See companion report, Quality-Protein Maize. Quality-protein barleys are rich in
amino acids, such as lysine. that are vital to human nutrition and yet normally deficient in
cereals. They have been called "Hi-proly" by the Danish food scientists who have studied
them most. (For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.)
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It has long been used in Ethiopia and is well adapted to the high elevations
and other conditions there. It is, however, unknown elsewhere. With a rising
international interest in oats this little-known species deserves research attention.
Unlike common oats (Avena sativa), which is a hexaploid, Ethiopian oats is a
tetraploid. It is seldom grown as a solitary crop; it is almost always sown in a
mixture with barley. Agriculturists may classify it as a weak-stemmed "weed,"
but not the farmers. They harvest the two grains together and use them mainly in
mixtures. These mixtures generally end up in injera (the flat national bread; see
last chapter), local beer (tala), and other products. Some are roasted and eaten as
snacks.
However, some people don't appreciate Ethiopian oats because the plant is
not fully domesticated and does shatter somewhat. It is also fully fertile with the
weed Avena vaviloviana, which creates swarms of weedy hybrids that shatter a
lot.
13
Nonetheless, Ethiopian native oats deserves research attention and a chance
to prove itself.
KODO MILLET
Although wild forms of kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) occur in
Africa, the plant is not grown as a crop there. However, domesticated forms have
been developed in southern India, where they are planted quite widely. This is
therefore a plant in the very process of domestication, and the cultivated forms
could have an important future in Africa as well.
The wild form is common across tropical Africa (as well as across wetter
parts of the Asian tropics from Indonesia to Japan). It is often abundant along
paths, ditches, and low spots, especially where the ground is disturbed (which
accounts for the reason it is sometimes called ditch millet).
Although kodo millet frequently infests rice fields in West Africa, it is
tolerated even there. Many farmers actually take pleasure in seeing it in their
plots. Should the rice crop fail or do poorly, they will not have lost everything ...
the field will likely end up choked with kodo millet, which can then be harvested
for food. In this sense, the weed becomes a lifesaver for a subsistence-farming
family.
All in all, this is another obscure cereal deserving greater modern research
and recognition. Two technical problems to evaluate are an ergotlike fungal
disease and the probable presence of antinutritional compounds.
13
Specimens from these two species. as well as the hybrid between them. have also
been referred to as the species Avena barbara Pott.. from which the Ethiopian species may
have been derived.
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14
Wild Grains
1
Over large areas of Africa people once obtained their basic subsistence from
wild grasses. In certain places the practice still continuesespecially in drought
years (see boxes, pages 258 and 264). One survey records more than 60 grass
species known to be sources of food grains.
2
Despite their widespread use and notable value for saving lives during times
of distress, these wild cereals have been largely overlooked by both food
scientists and plant scientists. They have been written off as ''obsolete"doomed
since hunting and gathering started giving way to agriculture thousands of years
ago. Certainly there has been little or no thought of developing wild grains as
modern foods.
This deserves reconsideration, however. Gathering grains from grasslands is
among the most sustainable organized food production systems in the world. It
was common in the Stone Age
3
and has been important almost ever since,
especially in Africa's drylands. For millennia people living in and about the
Sahara, for instance, gathered grass seeds on a grand scale. And they continued to
do so until quite recently. Early this century they were still harvesting not
insignificant amounts of their food from native grasslands.
However, in previous centuries the grains of the deserts and savannas were
harvested in enormous quantities. In the Sahel and Sahara, for example, a single
household might collect a thousand kilos during the harvest season.
4
The seeds
were piled in warehouses by the ton and shipped out of the region by the
caravan-load. It was a major enterprise and a substantial export from an area that
now has no equivalent and is often destitute.
1
Much of this chapter is based on a review by Jack Harlan (Harlan, 1989).
2
Jardin, 1967.
3
Many of the stone (Mesolithic) implements found in archeological sites throughout the
Sahara were probably created for harvesting wild grass seeds. Some are still used. Modern
desert dwellers, for example, find it convenient to employ ancient grindstones they find at
archeological sites instead of carrying their own from camp to camp. Information from J.
Harlan.
4
Nicolaisen, 1963.
WILD GRAINS 251
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HOW THE MILLETS AROSE
It is not illogical to think that at least some of the wild grasses in this
chapter might be turned into tractable crops for farm fields and household
gardens. It has been done in the past . . . by our Stone Age forebears, no
less.
Between 12,000 and 6000 B.C., most of the Sahara appears to have
been perfectly hospitable to humans. What is today the world's most
fearsome desert then enjoyed a mild climate, winter rainfall, and an
extensive grass cover. Acacia and tamarisk trees lined the many water
courses. Mountainsides were verdant woodlands of myrtle, oak, hackberry,
and olive, with juniper and pines at the upper altitudes.*
By 10,000 B.C. people inhabited the area. A scattering of Neolithic
(New Stone Age) sites across the central Sahara provide evidence that they
were using sickles and grinding equipment, which suggests that they were
using the grasses. By 6000 B.C. the central Sahara people were definitely
collecting wild grain as well as apparently hunting wildlife and herding
livestock. The vast grasslands provided game as well as limitless grazing
for cattle, sheep, and goats. Shallow lakesoccupying wide, flat pans
enlarged during the rains and provided plentiful food from fish,
hippopotamus, and aquatic plants, including African rice.
But then, after about 4000 B.C., the region began drying out. The
desert as we know it today had begun to form. Few archeological sites from
this period are found, and the people apparently had been forced to leave.
But before they left, they had time to domesticate some of the grasses
around them during the thousands of years the rather sedentary, herding-
fishing-hunting people occupied the Sahara. Several cereals seem to have
arisen there. African rice, fonio, pearl millet, sorghum, and perhaps finger
millet got their start this way.
Those ancients did a miraculous job, considering they had no
knowledge of genetics, microorganisms, chemistry, nutrition, or the myriad
other sciences we now consider vital for domesticating and developing
crops. Nor did they have ready access to the variety of germplasm that any
scientist today would demand. If they could do it, surely we can.
* All this is suggested by numerous pollen samples dug up in the Tibesti and Haggar massifs
in the heart of the Sahara.
WILD GRAINS 252
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But in modern times these wild grains have been neglected and even much
maligned. Various writers repeatedly refer to them as "famine foods." This is
obviously wrong. Where the grains were gathered, surplus was often the rule.
Wild grains were eaten even when pearl millet was in oversupply, for instance.
Modern writings also imply that the wild-grass grains were eaten only in
desperation when nothing else was available. This, too, is apparently false. The
harvest was large scale, sophisticated, and commercial: it must have been founded
upon a keen and constant demand. Indeed, all evidence suggests that the grains
were a delicacy that even the wealthier classes considered a luxury.
Remnants of this once vast and highly organized production still linger. One
observer pointed out that harvests of wild grains were still being carried out in
1968, at least 60 years after they had last been major contributors to the local
diet.
5
However, despite its former prestige and ancient heritage, the wild-grain
harvest has been declining for a century or more.
A major reason for the decline is that the once vast stands of grasses are
much reduced. Partly this results from the demise of the nomads. Sedentary life
encourages continuous and localized grazing so that the plants never get a chance
to form grains. Partly, too, the decline results from the breakdown of traditional
authority. Formerly, chieftains banned grazing animals from certain areas while
the wild grains were filling out. If camels were caught there during that time, the
chieftain could slaughter one of them in recompense; if goats were caught, he
could kill as many as 10.
Just because wild grasses no longer contribute greatly to Africa's food does
not mean they should be disregarded. Even preliminary study is likely to turn up
many fascinating possibilities and perhaps much future potential. Many come
from locations where burning temperatures, scant rains, and ravenous insects
make the better-known grains impossible to produce. Some can populate and
stabilize sand dunesperhaps even the juggernaut dunes that threaten to bury
oases, farms, villages, roads, and towns. Forged upon the unforgiving anvil of
survival, these wild grasses are clearly suited to the worst of conditions.
In fact, plants like theseinured to harshness and constantly pressured by
pathogens, pests, severe weather, and harsh soilsare just the sort of resources
the world needs for overcoming some of its most intractable environmental
problems. For example, some of Africa's wild cereals might be especially good
weapons for combating desertification. Indeed, resurrecting the ancient grain-
gathering industry could well be a way to defeat land degradation across the
worst
5
Gast, 1968.
WILD GRAINS 253
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WILD GRAINS 254
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WILD GRAINS 255
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afflicted areas of the Sahel and its neighboring regions. A vast and vigorous
grain-gathering enterprise, for instance, would ensure that once again the grass
cover is kept in place and that overgrazing is controlled once more.
Such a possibility is not inconceivable. Wild cereals might be made into an
everyday food source, a famine reserve, and perhaps even a specialty export
crop. This last may seem unlikely, but it should at least be considered. Today, the
overall situation is different from that of a century ago. Railroads and airfreight
mean that grains can now be shipped from the Sahara with much greater ease than
on the backs of camels. Moreover, consumers in affluent nations are increasingly
interested in buying and trying "exotic" cuisines. And many people of goodwill
are highly motivated and eager to help avoid the horrendous tragedies of Sahelian
drought and famine they have witnessed on their television screens in recent
decades.
A similar concept is being attempted as a way to combat the destruction of
tropical rainforests. In the last few years, for instance, an international trade in
special tropical-forest products has begun. The object is to foster an economy
based on resources of the rainforest itself. If successful, it will generate powerful
local disincentives for destroying the natural environment.
In the case of the rainforest, the products are such things as wild rubber,
fruits, nuts, and vegetable-ivory buttons. In the case of Africa's desertifying
areas, the product might be kreb.
Kreb is perhaps the most famous food of the Sahara. A complex of a dozen
or more different wild grains, it was harvested from natural meadows. Its
composition varied from place to place and probably from year to year,
depending on the mix of grasses that grew.
These days, given some clever marketing, "kreb from the Sahara" might sell
at premium prices in Europe, North Africa, and North America, for example. It
would be seen as a gourmet food that provides income to nomads and protects the
earth's most fragile lands from further destruction by keeping a cover of wild
native grasses on them.
Although this idea is highly speculative, subject to many limitations and
uncertainties, it is not beyond reason. Mixed-grain products are not uncommon in
Western supermarkets these days. For instance, in the United States a popular
breakfast cereal is a grain mixture that people boil in water like rice. (It is made
from conventional grains but goes by the trade name "Kashi," another word for
kreb.
6
) And some expensive breads are made from as many as 11 different
grains.
6
The pamphlet in each box explains: "Kashi, the breakfast pilaf, is a specially
formulated pure blend of whole oats, long grain brown rice, whole rye, triticale, hard red
winter wheat, raw buckwheat, slightly hulled barley, and mechanically dehulled sesame
seeds; 100 percent quality whole grains that are not cut, cracked, rolled or flaked nor
creamy or mushy when cooked."
WILD GRAINS 256
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Resurrecting the production of kreb could provide food, income, and
perhaps a protection against famine. It might bring substantial environmental
benefits as well. Many of the wild African grains come from perennial grasses
that continuously cover the soil and protect it from water and wind erosion. In
addition, these plants facilitate the infiltration of rainfall and prevent rapid runoff
from desert downpours early in the season, a time when annuals are still getting
started and much of the soil around them is exposed and hard. Moreover,
perennial crops have long growing seasons and the extra solar energy they collect
normally produces good grain yields. (This is why some hybrids, including maize
hybrids, have been so productive.)
Native perennials might prove to have economic benefits as well. Perennials
save the vast amount of energy and labor that farmers must put in each year to
move soil for planting and tilling annual cereals. Also, they save on the often
large amount of grains that must be put aside each year for plantingwith a
perennial, those can be eaten.
Beyond their direct use as cereals, Africa's wild grasses may also have
international value as genetic resources. Some are related to species used
elsewhere for food or fodder and are likely to have genes of international
importanceparticularly because many of them have outstanding tolerance and
resistance to heat, drought, drifting sand, and disease. On the other hand, some
might prove weedy when taken out of the desert and introduced to more
salubrious situations.
The nutritional value of wild-grass seeds has seldom been studied in detail,
but those analyses that have been made indicate that protein contents are usually
considerably higher than that of cultivated cereals. Several Saharan grains, for
instance, have protein contents of 17-21 percent, roughly twice that of today's
main cultivated cereals.
7
All cereals are low in vitamins A, D, C, B, and the amino acids lysine and
tryptophan. Wild grass seeds are no exception. However. some may be unusually
high in food energy. Certain kram-kram seeds, for instance, apparently have
about 9 percent fat and are perhaps higher in energy than any other cereal grain.
8
Africa's promising wild cereals include those described below. All of these
deserve the attention of food and agricultural scientists, as well as of the people
involved in battling Sahelian desertification. Even the most basic studies could be
extremely valuable. These include the following:
Tests to determine how best to plant and establish each species (seed
treatments, sowing depths, planting times, and so on);
7
Busson, 1965. Much of the difference may be due to their small seed size.
Domesticated grains are usually bigger, and the increase is primarily due to endosperm,
which is largely starch.
8
Busson. 1965.
WILD GRAINS 257
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HARVESTING WILD GRASSES
To most people, it probably seems inconceivable that in this age of
intensive agriculture, wild grasses are still being gathered. The following
(adapted from a recent FAO report) gives a sense of the ongoing
importance of wild grains in different parts of Africa.
Niger
On their way from the wet- to the dry-season pastures, the Tuareg of
Niger regularly harvest wild cereals. The grains, collectively known as
ishiban, include desert panic (Panicum laetum) and shama millet
(Echinochloa colona). Women do most of the gathering, and around
harvest time groups of five or six women often go off for a week or so to
gather wild grains (as well as fruits, gum arabic, and other wild products).
They collect the grains in different ways:
If the seed is ripe and ready to fall, they harvest early in the morning
when dew tends to hold the seed in the inflorescence. They swing a
deep, cone-shaped basket through the tops of the plants to gather the
grain.
• If the seed is not ripe enough to fall, they first cut the grass and then dry,
thresh, and winnow the grain as if it were a domesticated cereal
If the seed has already ripened and fallen, they cut or burn the stands,
and later sweep the seeds up off the ground. (This spoils the taste and
adds soil and pebbles, but the harvesters often have no choice.)
Sometimes the women search for seeds in ant nests and termite
mounds. In desperate times, such as the terrible drought of the 1970s,
they even dig down to the ants' subterranean storehouses.
Sudan
The Zaghawa of the Sudan and Chad harvest many annual grasses for
food and beer. These include Egyptian grass (Dactyloctenium aegyptium),
desert panic, shama millet, wild tef (Eragrostis pilosa), and wild rice (Oryza
breviligulata). Kram-kram (Cenchrus biflorus) and Tribulus terrestris seeds
are used only during famine. The women generally use the grains for their
own
258
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families, but they sell some as well. The Zaghawa spend a month or
two in the areas where the wild cereals grow, often returning with three or
four camel loads of grain. The various sites are visited several times, at
intervals of 15-30 days. The earliest harvests usually yield the most. There
is much communal cooperation. The women mentally mark off areas for
themselves, cut the grass, and pile it up to dry. To foil any goats or wildlife,
they cover their piles with thorny branches, and to guard against theft, they
leave a symbolic stone representing each woman's clan. Livestock are
barred from these areas until after the grain harvest, and herders are fined
if any animals get in. It appears that the gathering actually helps maintain a
good stand of wild cereals, because less useful plants (especially kram-
kram) are taking over the areas where gathering is no longer practiced.
Zambia
The Tonga of Zambia routinely harvest the grains of wild sorghum and
Egyptian grass, and during famines they also harvest species of Brachiaria,
Panicum, Echinochloa, Rottboellia, and Urochloa. They supplement these
wild cereals with relishes made from leaves, most of which they also usually
find in the wild. These two together provide them with sources of starch,
proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. They also use wild native plants for
brooms, building material, fiber, salt, medicine, poisons, and so on.
South Africa
When in the 1930s the Chamber of Mines began asking about edible
wild plants, its labor-recruitment offices across South Africa became
overwhelmed. "We were inundated with parcels from many parts of the
country containing plants or parts of plants," wrote one of the participants
recently. "It became clear that a nutritionally significant part of the people's
diet was being obtained from the veld."
Among the grains sent in werethose from
Sporobolus fimbriatus (matolo-a-maholo)
Brachiaria brizantha (bread grass, long-seed millet)
Echinochloa stagnina (bourgou)
Panicum subalbidum (manna grass)
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum (dogtooth grass)
259
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Direct seeding trials using rain as the sole source of moisture;
Searches for elite specimens (those that, for instance, hold onto the ripe
seed, that have bigger seed, and that best survive harsh conditions);
Trials on various sites (from the most favorable locations to moving sand
dunes);
Analyses of food value (physical, chemical, and nutritional) as well as of
the foods prepared from them; and
Multiplication of seeds or other planting materials for distribution to
nomads, farmers, governments, and researchers.
DRINN
The grass known in Arabic as drinn (Aristida pungens) once provided by far
the most important wild grain of the northern Sahara.
9
It was extremely
abundant, often growing on sand dunes but especially on bottomlands watered by
runoff from higher ground. It is a tall (to 1.5 m), tufted perennial with deep roots
and long leaves. Its grains are black.
Travelers crossing the Sahara in the past often wrote about drinn's value,
both as a food and as forage. Duveyrier (1864) commented: "its grain is often the
only food for people." Cortier (1908) referred several times to the abundance of
drinn: "The hillocks of sand in all the plain," he wrote, "are embossed by
enormous tufts of drinn, whose black grains at the tips of long stems swing and
sweep the soil."
Even as recently as 1969, drinn was still a significant part of the diet in the
Sahara oases.
10
In earlier times it was an important food from the desert's edge
almost to the Ahaggar (southern Algeria). It was, for instance, vital to people
living a tenuous existence in the very heart of this fearsome region; the Toubou
of Tibesti (northern Chad) are just one example.
11
In fact, this grass was so
crucial to life that desert tribes were characterized as those who cultivated cereals
(the Mahboud), and those who gathered drinn (the Maloul).
Drinn is extremely drought resistant. It grows, for instance, between
Touggourt and El Oued in Algeria on sand dunes where the average rainfall is
less than 70 mm per year.
12
PANIC GRASSES
Various Panicum species have been favored by grain gatherers the world
over. Panicum miliaceum was once so popular in Europe that
9
It is also known as toulloult or loul.
10
Champault, 1969.
11
Chapelle, 1958.
12
Information from P. Beckman.
WILD GRAINS 260
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it became a crop that perhaps predates wheat. Today this plant is grown
extensively in the Soviet Union and Central Asia under the name proso millet.
At least seven wild Panicum species are gathered for food in Africa.
13
The
most important are discussed below.
Panicum turgidum
Called afezu or merkba (Arabic), this grass produces seed that closely
resembles proso millet. It was once abundant across the Sahara as well as in
desert lands as far east as Pakistan. It was widespread, for example, in Senegal,
Mauritania, Morocco, Egypt, and Somalia and was the primary wild grass in a
vast belt across the southern Sahara. Its grain was formerly gathered in large
amounts, and even today it is still harvested, at least to some extent, throughout
the plant's range.
This desert species grows where few crops can. It is extremely drought
tolerant, thriving in dry sands in semiarid or arid areas with annual rainfalls from
250 mm down to as little as 30 mm. It is also found in semidesert shrublands and
is common among the vegetation inhabiting dried-up wadis.
A deep-rooted, clump-forming perennial, this plant forms loose tussocks I m
or so in diameter. It spreads by long, looping stolons, building up mats of
vegetation that are extremely useful for erosion control. (Its stems fall over and
root at the nodes, clamping down the soil.) It is known to colonize wind-blown
sand dunes (often while they are still moving) and can protect steep slopes. The
root system is extensive, penetrating to below I m as well as radiating out
horizontally more than 3.4 m in plants excavated in Somalia.
Although afezu's main nonfood use is as a sand-binder, it provides some
grazing for camels, goats, and other animals. Its palatability is generally low, but
its ability to grow in virtual desert conditions, together with its perennial nature,
gives it great value.
This plant bears its seeds on panicles that rise above the mat. They can be
easily collected by holding the seedheads over a bowl and beating them with a
stick. Most of the grain collected ends up in a porridge (tébik).
Panicum laetum
The grain of this particular panic grass is regarded as a special delicacy. It
was an important ingredient in kreb. People still collect it for food in many parts
of West Africa, sometimes on a large enough scale that it shows up in local
markets. The grains are normally crushed and eaten as a porridge.
This plant, which also occurs in massive stands, ranges from Mauritania to
the Sudan and Tanzania. It is an annual, often common
13
Jardin, 1967.
WILD GRAINS 261
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on black-clay soil in areas that are seasonally flooded. Animals like it, and it is
especially well suited for making hay or silage. It is not highly drought tolerant,
however.
Because it occurs in almost pure stands, the grain is fairly easy to collect.
People sweep a small bowl or calabash through the seedheads during the period
when the ripe grains are ready to fall.
Panicum anabaptistum
Little has been written about this species. However, its grains are also eaten
in at least a few parts of Africa. It, too, is liked by animals and can be utilized for
hay and silage. The plant prefers heavy soils and is found predominantly on wet
sites. It continues producing green shoots well into the dry season, a valuable
feature in any desert forage. People weave its long, dried culms (stems) into mats
for their houses.
Panicum stagninum
This interesting perennial (also known as Panicum burgii) is found
throughout much of tropical Africa, especially the Sudan and Central Africa.
Instead of producing a useful grain, it yields a thick syrup, which is used in
confections and sweet beverages that are widely enjoyed in Timbuktu and other
places.
KRAM-KRAM
Along the southern fringes of the Sahara the primary wild cereal is kram-
kram (Cenchrus biflorus).
14
This annual grass builds massive stands over
thousands of hectares of sand plains and stabilized dunes. In earlier times, it was
the dominant cereal of both the Sahel and the borderland between the Sahel and
the Sahara. In those days it was a more important food than pearl millet, and its
grains were milled into flour and made into porridge on a vast scale. As noted
earlier, some kram-kram seeds contain 9 percent fat and have perhaps the highest
food energy of any cereal. They also have a notably high protein content21
percent in one recent analysis, or about twice the level found in normal wheat or
maize.
Kram-kram
15
is now harvested only when other crops fail, but given some
attention it might once again become a universal food for the peoples of the
northern Sahel. Also, this wild plant might be converted to a useful crop.
Domestication could come about quickly, particularly if its grain were enlarged
by selection or cross-breeding with other Cenchrus species. The plant grows well
on sandy soils. It is a reliable
14
In older literature this is referred to as Cenchrus catharticus Delile.
15
Other common names are ''Sahelian sandbur," chevral, and karindja. Tuareg names
include karengia, wujjeg, and uzack.
WILD GRAINS 262
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KRAM-KRAM
Main Components
a
Essential Amino Acids
Food energy (Kc) 325 Cystine 1.7
Protein (g) 19.2 Isoleucine 4.8
Carbohydrate (g) 56 Leucine 15.5
Fat (g) 2.9 Lysine 1.1
Fiber (g) 2.3 Methionine 2.2
Ash (g) 10.2 Phenylalanine 5.2
Calcium (mg) 63 Threonine 3.2
Copper (mg) 0.5 Tyrosine 3.2
Iron (mg) 6.4 Valine 5.5
Magnesium (mg) 63
Manganese (mg) 2.0
Phosphorus (mg) 162
Potassium (mg) 153
Zinc (mg)
5
a
Assuming 10 percent moisture.
COMPARATIVE QUALITY
WILD GRAINS 263
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LAKES OF GRASS
The following, taken from a 1990 report from the United Nations
Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO), shows how a farsighted project is
restoring one of the formerly important West African wild grasses. Although
it emphasizes animal feed, it gives a glimpse of what could be done by
developing wild grasses for food*
To farmers and pastoralists in the Inner Delta of Mali, the bourgou
floodplains supply a crucial source of fodder. Without these bourgoutières,
the livestock would die during the dry season. Only bourgou can survive in
these bottomlands that go underwater each year for months at a time.
Bourgou is unique in its adaptation to these amazing conditions. As the
waters rise around it, the grass grows taller and taller until (after about 3
months) its stems can reach lengths of more than 3 m. At this point bourgou
is like an aquatic plant with only its flowers and seedheads sticking above
the surface. Once the water level drops, cattle are given access, and as
they walk through the shallows, they trample the seeds and runners into the
soft ground. This ensures that the crop will survive and grow again.
However, when everything has dried out, there remains on the surface a
dense mat of grass, half-a-meter thick.
This mat is what is used for fodder. If well managed, bourgou produces
nearly 30 tons of dry matter per hectarea sizable yield even for much
more productive locations. When cut and
Bourgou harvest. (UN Sudano-Sahelian Office)
WILD GRAINS 264
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sold in the market, the grass fetches good prices: between 25 and 100
CFA francs per bundle (1-3 kg) in the early 1990s. The problem, however,
is that the period of intense drought, from 1968 to 1985, destroyed many
bourgoutières. So, in 1982 UNSO and the Malian government began a
project to learn how to regenerate bourgou grasslands.
So far, the most effective technique has been to plant rootlings: small,
rooted cuttings collected either from existing bourgoutières or from
nurseries specifically set up for the purpose. The planting (at an average
rate of 10,000 plants per hectare) is done by hand. This takes a lot of work,
but it has been so successful that this grass has now been re-established
on more than 4,000 hectares. And, as bourgou is a perennial, it should
continue in those floodplains for decades.
Already, regenerated bourgoutières have had a great impact locally.
Farmers use the grass both for direct grazing and for making silage and
hay. Many have been able to increase their incomes through selling both
fodder and milk. Local milk supplies have increased so much that
thousands of families have benefited from better nutrition.
UNSO feels that areas all along the Niger River could also be planted
with bourgou. It is possible that the grass might even thrive in other river
valleys, such as that of the Senegal, where annual floods make better
known crops difficult to grow.
* For more information, contact United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO), Avenue
Dimdolobsom (section 3), B.P. 366, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
WILD GRAINS 265
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source of forage, since it persists in a dry but palatable state until the next
rainy period.
16
On the other hand, kram-kram is vicious. It is a sandbur whose grains are
enclosed in clusters (fascicles) surrounded with many sharp spines. These grab
onto the fur of animals and the clothing of people. Indeed, they easily penetrate
flesh and have literally been thorns in people's sides for millennia. Travelers have
long complained of the plant's "troublesome nature" and "constant
inconvenience," but they did admit that it was also very useful. "Many of the
Tawarek, from Bornu as far as Timbuktu,'' wrote Heinrich Barth in the
mid-1800s, "subsist more or less upon its seed."
When mature, the burs fall to the sand in great quantities, often clinging
together in giant masses that roll along with the wind, growing as they go. People
sweep them up with bunches of straw or with giant "combs." They
throw them into a wooden mortar and pound and winnow away the troublesome
spines, leaving behind the white, flavorful seeds.
Livestock cannot abide the prickly spikelets, but they like grazing on kram-
kram both in its juvenile state and after the spiky burs have fallen off. The plant
grows vigorously, and during the rainy period it can be cut several times for hay
or silage. The hay must be made at times when the burs are absent, but silage can
be made at any time because the fermentation softens the bristles, so that animals
digest them without difficulty.
Not all forms of this plant are spiky nuisances. At least one has blunt inner
spines and no outer spines at all. It has been called Cenchrus leptacanthus. If this
type breeds true and if it could be developed as a crop, it would make kram-kram
easier to handle and perhaps very valuable as a forage for many dry areas.
17
A related species, also used as a wild cereal, is Cenchrus prieurii. It is
spread throughout the Sahara from Senegal to Ethiopia (as well as India). People
eat the crushed grain, mainly as porridge.
BOURGOU
Of all the grasses of the central delta of the Niger, bourgou (Echinochloa
stagnina) was once the most prevalent. At one time it covered an estimated
250,000 hectares. (Much of that land, which is
16
Information from R. Bartha.
17
A close relative. Cenchrus ciliaris (commonly known as "buffel grass"), is a
perennial with a very high forage value. It is increasingly used throughout the world's
tropics and subtropics.
WILD GRAINS 266
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flooded for part of each year, is now under cultivated rice, see Chapter 1.) The
Fulani people, for example, harvested large amounts of bourgou seed for food.
They also got sugar from the plant. Some of the sugar produced by
photosynthesis is not converted to starch and accumulates in the stems. People
used it in beverages, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. Even today, some sugar is
still extracted from bourgou and is utilized especially for making sweetmeats and a
liqueur.
This grass is found typically along river banks and other moist areas,
especially those of Central Africa and on the central delta of the Niger. Recently, a
farsighted UN-sponsored project has begun to restore some of the old bourgou
stands in the area (see box, page 264).
Although its seeds are harvested for food, bourgou today is mainly used for
fodder. For this purpose, it is notably important at the beginning of the dry
season. As the annual floodwaters recede, it provides the vital forage needed to
fatten livestock before the dry season sets in and their drastic weight losses
begin.
The genus Echinochloa is one of the larger ones in the grass family. Two
more species used for food in Africa are the following.
Antelope grass (Echinochloa pyramidalis)
This native of tropical Africa, southern Africa, and Madagascar is primarily
used for fodder, but is also used locally as flour.
Shama millet (Echinochloa colona)
This plant probably originated in Asia, but it has been in Africa a very long
time. Today people eat its grain only in dry years, although Egyptians possibly
once grew it as a cereal on farms. The plant thrives in wet, clay soils where few
grasses do well (in some African languages it is called "waterstraw"). Beyond its
use as a food, the plant is suitable for making hay and silage and is relished by
livestock.
CROWFOOT GRASSES
At least one Dactyloctenium species is eaten in Africa. It is the so-called
Egyptian grass (Dactyloctenium aegyptium). This annual of the Sahara and the
Sudan is now widely naturalized in different parts of the tropics and subtropics,
including North America. It has never been considered as a possible cultivated
crop, but nomads and others in its homeland (as well as Australian aborigines)
gather the grains for food. The plant mostly grows in heavy soils at damp sites
below 1,500 m. Livestock enjoy it, and it is also suitable for making hay and
silage.
WILD GRAINS 267
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SHAMA MILLET
Main Components
a
Essential Amino Acids
Food energy (Kc) 311 Cystine 0.8
Protein (g) 9.5 Isoleucine 4.6
Carbohydrate (g) 56 Leucine 10.8
Fat (g) 5.3 Lysine 2.1
Fiber (g) 11.1 Methionine 1.6
Ash (g) 7.8 Phenylalanine 6.9
Calcium (mg) 45 Threonine 3.5
Copper (mg) 0.4 Tyrosine 4.3
Iron (mg) 9.7 Valine 5.8
Magnesium (mg) 198
Manganese (mg) 2.5
Phosphorus (mg) 369
Potassium (mg) 270
Sodium (mg)
9
a
Assuming 10 percent moisture.
WILD GRAINS 268
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EGYPTIAN GRASS
Main Components
a
Essential Amino Acids
Food energy (Kc) 323 Cystine 1.5
Protein (g) 11.8 Isoleucine 4.8
Carbohydrate (g) 65 Leucine 9.9
Fat (g) 1.7 Lysine 2.0
Fiber (g) 4.0 Methionine 3.2
Ash (g) 7.5 Phenylalanine 6.8
Calcium (mg) 963 Threonine 3.5
Copper (mg) 0.6 Tyrosine 3.7
Iron (mg) 10.9 Valine 5.8
Magnesium (mg) 198
Manganese (mg) 38.3
Phosphorus (mg) 351
Potassium (mg) 270
Zinc (mg)
6
a
Assuming 10 percent moisture.
WILD GRAINS 269
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WADI RICE
Main Components
a
Essential Amino Acids
Calcium (mg) 36 Cystine 1.5
Copper (mg) 0.6 Isoleucine 4.1
Iron (mg) 15.1 Leucine 8.6
Magnesium (mg) 243 Lysine 3.6
Manganese (mg) 4.4 Methionine 2.2
Phosphorus (mg) 495 Phenylalanine 5.2
Potassium (mg) 333 Threonine 3.4
Sodium (mg) 9 Tyrosine 4.8
Zinc (mg)
4 Valine 5.9
a
Assuming 10 percent moisture.
This chapter's tables and graphs show that Africa's famine-food grains
can be quite nutritious. They are notably rich in those amino acids that are
essential for human health but that are normally deficient in sorghum and
the other common staples. Kram-kram, Egyptian grass, and wadi rice, for
example, have more of the sulfur-containing amino acids than the FAO
reference protein requirement. Egyptian grass and shama millet proteins
are also significantly higher in threonine than those usually reported for
sorghum protein. Wadi rice protein (see above) is notably better than
sorghum, but it closely resembles that of common cultivated rice in its
amino-acid composition.
WILD GRAINS 270
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WILD RICES
Cereals of the West and Central African savannas include two wild rices.
One, Oryza barthii, is the wild progenitor of the African domesticated rice (see
African rice chapter, page 17, and especially the map, page 23). An annual, it
tends to grow in shallow depressions that fill with water during the rains but later
dry up. It produces abundant seed and is still harvested on a considerable scale.
The second species, Oryza longistaminata, is perennial and thus requires a
more continuous supply of moisture. It is a relatively shy seeder, but its grain is
sometimes harvested in sufficient quantities to reach the local markets.
A third wild rice (Oryza punctata) is indigenous to eastern Africa. This so-
called "wadi rice" is a freely tillering annual that grows up to 1.5 m tall, and it,
too, commonly occurs in rain-flooded depressions. Its seeds are relatively large
and resemble those of cultivated rice except that they have a reddish husk. In
Central Sudan, where wadi rice is widespread, the grains are boiled with water or
milk and eaten as a staple.
OTHER WILD GRAINS
Among other wild African grasses that are, at least on a few occasions, used
as food are the following. Little or nothing is known about these or their food
uses, but certain botanical tomes contain the following cryptic comments.
Urochloa mosambicensis. Central and East Africa. Grains boiled.
Urochloa trichopus. Tropical Africa. Grains sometimes eaten.
Themeda triandra. Tropical and southern Africa. Perennial grass.
Grain eaten during times of famine. Forms principal cover in fireclimax
savanna areas. Used as fodder for livestock. Possibly of use in papermaking. Used
a lot for thatching; bundles are sold in Ethiopian
markets for the purpose.
Latipes senegalensis. Tropical Africa. Annual grass. Seeds are eaten by
desert tribes.
Eragrostis ciliaris.
18
Widespread in tropics. Grains used as famine food.
Eragrostis gangetica. Tropical Africa and Asia. Grains used as famine food.
18
This and the following Eragrostis species are related to tef (see chapter 12, page
215).
WILD GRAINS 271
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Eragrostis pilosa. Grains harvested regularly in East Africa.
Eragrostis tremula. Tropical Africa and South Asia. Grains used as famine
food.
Setaria sphacelata. Eastern South Africa, South Cape, Botswana, Namibia.
Perennial, robust, usually tufted grass. Of much economic importance. Different
varieties or ecotypes have various uses: for hay and silage; for silage only; or just
for grazing. Seeds eaten as famine food.
WILD GRAINS 272
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Appendix A
Potential Breakthroughs for Grain Farmers
This book was intended to be solely a survey of Africa's promising grains.
However, in drafting it the staff became aware of certain nonbotanical
developments that could bring enormous benefit to the use and productivity of
Africa's indigenous grains. Some of these promising developments that deal with
farming methods are presented here; others dealing with food preparation are
given in Appendixes B, C, and D. It should be understood that the innovations
described are not the only ones. Indeed, there may be dozens of alternatives for
helping to solve the problems described. Nor is it our intention to suggest that
these are panaceas. It should be understood further that the novel subjects
described here are largely unproved or even undeveloped. Each incorporates a
sound and seemingly powerful concept, but whether any will become truly
practical in the harsh reality of rural practice and poverty is uncertain. We
present them to encourage scientists and administrators to explore these
unappreciated topics that just might become vital to Africa's future.
CONQUERING QUELEA
A tiny bird is perhaps the greatest biological limit to African cereal
production. The most numerous and most destructive bird on earth, the seed-
eating quelea (Quelea quelea) can descend on a farm in such numbers as to
consume the entire grain crop in a matter of hours.
Quelea occurs only in Africa, but there its population is estimated to be at
least 1.5 billion.
1
Although it holds much of the continent's agriculture hostage,
its worst outbreaks are in parts of the eastern and southern regions, where its
plagues are worse than those of any locust.
1
One estimate puts the number as high as 100 billion.
APPENDIX A 273
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The fields of ripe grain lying in the path of quelea migrations are essentially
doomed. And it is unlikely that the consequences will diminish. Indeed, marginal
lands are increasingly employed to grow grains, and future destruction is likely to
be even greater.
The quelea's influence is insidious. This bird not only eats enough farm grain
to feed millions of people, it destroys the farmers' morale and drains all interest in
planting more land. Where quelea occurs, family members must patrol the
ripening fields for weeks, disrupting their lives and restricting all outside
activities such as jobs or schooling. Its preferences even dictate what is planted
millions of families now grow dark-seeded, tannin-rich, poorly digestible
sorghums, at least in part because the birds, quite naturally, dislike them (see
Chapter 10).
Trying to scare away hordes of ravenous birds is clearly futile in all but the
smallest plots. Efforts to control quelea with poisons, napalm, dynamite,
pathogens, and electronic devices have failed. Dynamiting the densest
concentrations can achieve temporary local control, but a single flock may
contain more than two million pairs and spread over an area far too wide for an
explosion to have much effect. However, one line of research is now showing
some promise.
At sunset each day queleas congregate in patches of tall grasses or trees. As
the sky darkens they crowd together, until thousands are packed side by side in a
small space. Researchers at the Zimbabwe Department of National Parks and
Wildlife Management have observed that (provided the night is dark and the
roost is isolated and fairly homogeneous, such as a patch of bulrushes) the birds
are loath to leave. When disturbed, the chattering flock flutters forward a meter
or two and only reluctantly decamps into the soundless darkness beyond. Indeed
the scientists found that, once the flock had settled in, they could "herd" it around
in the roost on moonless nights. By blowing whistles, beating on metal, or
making some other disturbance, they could hustle the birds from one end to the
other at will.
This was the key. If a barrier (a sheet of glass or transparent plastic, for
example) was placed across the middle of the roost, thousands of queleas could
be forced to fly into it each night (at least, for three consecutive nights, after
which the birds became more cautious). If a holding cage was placed beneath the
barrier, at least some of the half-stunned birds tumbled in. They could then be
dispatched humanely, or, even better, could be trucked directly to a slaughtering
facility and processed like poultry.
2
2
These grain-fed fowl make good food and traditionally have brought high prices in
Zimbabwe. However, Zimbabwe law now prohibits eating them because 16-65 million
quelea are killed each year by spraying bird toxins onto their roosts and nests. It has been
noted, however that people follow the spray teams and few dead birds remain on the
ground for long.
APPENDIX A 274
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In a second step, the Zimbabwe researchers tested tailor-made roosts. In
isolated locations (and on sites quelea should find irresistible), they planted plots
of napier grass and shaped them with slightly narrowed waists where the barriers
and traps could be easily erected.
This seemed like an excellent way to turn a pest into profit, or at least into
food, but it proved to have operational difficulties. The biggest problem was that
only a few birds ended up in the cages. Those coming in from the fields flew fast
enough to stun themselves on the glass, but most of those herded within the roost
recovered too fast to fall.
Actually, because of such disappointing results the Zimbabwean authorities
dropped the whole idea. They do, however, still use trap roosts to concentrate the
birds so that workers with backpack sprayers can get to them with avicides
(bird-killing chemicals).
3
This is much cheaper than using aircraft.
For most parts of rural Africa, killing birds with chemicals is unlikely to be
nearly as practical or as appealing as capturing them for food. Thus, even though
not yet perfected, the trap-roost concept seems to have promise. Indeed, it might
in the end prove ideal for much of rural Africa because it offers the hungry poor
both food and source of income. In principle, the operation is simple, cheap, and
easy to understand and replicate. Given a new burst of innovation, today's
limitations might well be overcome. Nets might be devised or the cages raised so
that the chattering flocks would fly right in during the dark of the night and not
have to stun themselves at all. Certainly, there seems to be much scope for
improvement.
Of course, at this early stage there are many uncertainties even if the method
can be made operational. Will it work in locations where the birds normally roost
in trees? Could it be modified for use in trees? Are there grasses better than
napier?
4
Will the birds learn, over time, to avoid the seductive patches of grass?
These issues are of course unresolved. However, if this approach can be
made to succeed even partially, its effects could be far-reaching. And if it can be
brought to perfection, it might transform the production of cereals throughout the
quelea combat zone. Relieved of this feathered scourge, farmers could grow the
best-adapted, best-tasting, and most nutritious grains. They could plant more
land, their children could stay in school during bird season, and they themselves
could keep their outside jobs.
3
Information from C. Packenham.
4
Vetiver grass seems likely to be a more practical choice. It is a perennial that neither
spreads nor is attractive to grazing animals. Trap roosts made of vetiver would stay in
place, perhaps for decades. Whether the birds will roost in blocks of vetiver grass should
be quickly tested. This plant is described later in the chapter.
APPENDIX A 275
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Although the trap-roost technique will never be a panacea,
5
it appears to
have advantages over other approaches on several grounds:
Environmental. The method requires no bird-killing chemicals.
Economic. Trap roosts need no imported materials and farmers can build
them with their own labor and materials so the technique could be
employed by subsistence farmers, who have no cash to spare for bird
control.
Conservation. Although the fact that other species roost with quelea is a
concern that needs to be evaluated,
6
techniques such as use of chemicals
and explosions, for instanceare as indiscriminate or more so.
Logistical. The method is independent of supplies, government,
consultants, or high-level training.
Adaptability. Catching birds in trap roosts seems infinitely adaptable to
various locations and to the differing needs of users from subsistence
farmers to large-property owners. For instance, a village farmer might
install a small trap roost to get a little ''poultry" for a party or a corporate
farmer may establish many large ones to maximize a crop worth millions.
EXORCISING WITCHWEED
A small plant is the second largest biological constraint on Africa's cereal
production. Usually called striga or witchweed, it is a parasite that lives off other
plants during its first few weeks of life. Its roots bore into neighboring roots and
suck out the fluids, leaving the victims dried out and drained of life.
7
Unfortunately, striga (there are two main species, Striga indica and
Striga hermonthica) loves maize, sorghum, millet, cowpeas, and other crops.
Millions of hectares of African farmland are continually threatened; hundreds of
thousands are annually infested. The traditional defense was long, idle fallow-
now impossible because of population pressure.
5
Even were it possible, eradicating quelea would not solve all bird problems because
sparrows and other grain-eating species also occur.
6
It is possible that desirable or endangered birds might inadvertently get caught, but so
far experience shows that the tailor-made quelea roosts invariably contain few or no other
species.
7
Actually, striga seedlings are so small that the "drain" they put on the host is probably
only moderate. However, the victim does dry out and die. It is suspected, though not
proven, that striga somehow modifies the host's metabolism to interrupt its resistance to
drought (thus the drying-out effect) and to increase its production of roots (at the expense
of its leaf growth). Obviously both are processes that greatly reduce grain yields.
Information from L.L. Riopel.
APPENDIX A 276
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And today when striga breaks out severely, nothing can be done. Farmers
usually abandon their land. Some of the most productive sites now lie idle
victims of this abominable sapsucker.
And the problem is worsening. Striga is most damaging when crops are
stressed by drought or lack of nutrientsphenomena that are increasingly
common. Changes in farming practices are also helping striga to conquer ever
more countryside. The continuous cropping of cereals, for example, contributes
more and more striga seed to the soil.
At present, the only way to keep this weed in check is by carefully crafted
farming practices: crop rotations, fertilization, and skillful use of herbicides, for
instance. But this is impractical for the millions of subsistence farmers who have
no surplus land for crop rotations and can afford neither fertilizer nor herbicides.
Also, it would be nearly impossible to train millions of farmers to modify their
farming practices, especially in the impoverished zones where striga is most
threatening.
A "technological fix" to take care of the problem easily, universally, and
permanently has never been found, but there is a possibility that it might be just
around the corner. A crack in the plant's biological armor has been discovered,
and through it researchers see exciting new prospects.
The excitement is based on the recognition that striga relies heavily on
"chemical signals" to locate its victims. The mechanisms of this signaling have
now been defined. In addition, approaches have been designed to cut striga's
"lines of communication" or to provide misinformation. And control methods are
proving successful in laboratory trials and even early field experiments.
Striga seeds refuse to germinate until they receive a chemical signal from the
root of a potential host. The signal telegraphs the fact that a victim is nearby and
that moisture is adequate for successful germination. The seed may lie dormant
for decades awaiting this chemical confirmation that it is safe to come out.
But striga's elegant adaptation provides a window of opportunity. Farmers
could, at least in theory, block the signals. Better still, they could supply false
signals and trigger striga seeds into suicidal germination. Striga depends so much
on the lifeblood of other plants that unless its seedlings can latch onto a root
within four days, they die. Each striga plant produces millions of tiny seeds, but a
chemical trigger could perhaps fool all of them into germinating. If the land had
been newly plowed, the parasite would find no victims and four days later
farmers could safely plant their crops.
Recently, scientists have identified chemical signals that trigger striga's
germination as well as others that inhibit it. Apparently, the balance between
stimulation and inhibition is what determines whether
APPENDIX A 277
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the seed will germinate. Both chemical types are extremely active. The
stimulants, for instance, can be diluted 10,000-fold or more and still cause striga
seed to germinate.
8
If compounds like these can be synthesized, mimicked, or economically
extracted from plant roots, they could be (at least in humanitarian terms) among
the most valuable of all organic chemicals. For example, it may be possible to
produce striga-suicide sprays, perhaps even in the regions that require the most
help. This approach has been exploited by Robert Eplee of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture to dramatically reduce striga attachment in greenhouse tests.
Also, another striga signal has been identified. This compound (2,6-
dimethoxybenzoquinone) "tells" the germinating striga seedling to form the organ
(haustorium) that pierces the victim's root. This, too, may offer a way to
overcome striga. For instance, an antagonist chemical might blunt striga's
underground weapon. If the pest can find no host, it never develops a growing
shoot (apical meristem), it never becomes photosynthetic, and it dies.
9
Recently, scientists have found that nature is ahead of them. At least one
strain of sorghum can already foil striga by producing water-soluble compounds
that are striga inhibitors. This sorghum, SRN-39, both resists the parasite and has
desirable agronomic characteristics and good-quality grain. Its striga resistance
appears to be simply inherited (only one or two genes). Crosses with other
cultivars have already been made and promising progeny obtained. Moreover, an
assay has been developed to screen breeding material for this resistant
characteristic. These results suggest that sorghum breeders may soon be able to
breed for striga resistance rapidly and efficiently.
10
Similar progress has been
achieved in maize.
It has also been found that some leguminous plantsCrotolaria species are
examplesexcrete their own striga-stimulating signals but do not serve as hosts.
Although the striga germinates, it immediately dies. Thus, plants like these could
be employed to deplete the striga seed bank in the soil. They may prove
extremely valuable species for fallow crops or alley crops. Crotolaria species
(rattleboxes) are le
8
Information from L. Butler.
9
New results suggest that striga uses a "chemical radar" approach to host detection. The
striga itself releases enzymes that remove the stimulants from the root's surface. This is a
novel, and very effective, means of detecting the presence of a potential host. Disruption
of this enzymatic function is also being effectively exploited by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
10
In fact, about 10 years ago a series of SAR (Striga asiatica resistant) varieties that
have a very high level of resistance to the white-flowered asiatica were developed in
India. More recently, in southern Africa, five SAR lines have been found to have
reasonable resistance to the red-flowered asiatica found in Africa. As with SRN-39.
inheritance is simple. (Information from L. House.)
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gumes, so they not only knock out the parasitic pest, they also enrich the soil with
nitrogen and organic matter.
All these approaches to the striga problem should be top research priorities,
and not only in Africa. This parasite already affects India and has broken out in a
small part of the United States. It could easily come to infect much of the world's
farmland. Solving the problem now would lift from African agriculture a burden
so big that the result might compare with a "Green Revolution." It would also
help insulate the rest of the world from the heartbreak of this herbaceous horror.
All countries have a stake in the outcome of this challenging research.
LIQUIDATING LOCUSTS
Numerous African countries, but especially those in the Sahel, are
victimized by the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria). Controlling this one pest
soaks up vast amounts of money, time, and insecticides700,000 liters of
concentrate were sprayed over 14.5 million hectares in 1988, for instance. It has
generally been effective, but in recent years some of the locust's relatives have
risen up to become equally menacing. In 1989, for example, grasshoppersin
particular the Senegal grasshopper (Oedalus senegalensis)arrived just at
harvest time, causing 10 times more damage than the locusts had the previous
year.
For nearly 30 years Dieldrin was the pesticide of choice. Applied in strips
across the desert terrain where locust larvae hatch, it seemed an ideal way to stop
the insects before they reached their damaging migratory stage. It worked, it
needed no repeated spraying, it was cheap, and it could be stored without
degrading even in the scorching heat of the Sahara. But in the late 1980s, even
while locust swarms were swelling to worrisome levels, people began protesting
because of Dieldrin's potential toxicity to humans and animals.
On environmental grounds, organophosphorus chemicals and pyrethroids
seemed preferable but they remain effective for a few days only and must be
reapplied over and over. This means higher costs, more work, and the destruction
of all insect lifeeven beneficial species.
Now, a new approach to chemical control seems to offer some hope.
Research in Germany has shown that oil from the seed of the neem tree
(Azadirachta indica) stops locust nymphs from clustering.
11
After exposure to
even tiny doses, the juvenile locusts fail to form the
11
Information from H. Schmutterer. This tree and its promise for controlling insects and
other pests is described in the companion report Neem: A Tree for Solving Global
Problems. (For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.)
APPENDIX A 279
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massive, moving plagues. They remain alive but solitary and lethargic; they sit on
the ground, almost motionless, and are thus very susceptible to insectivorous
birds. Grasshopper nymphs are affected in the same way.
This is very different from the earlier applications of neem against locusts.
Those first attempts used alcoholic extracts of the seed kernel, and were aimed at
disrupting metamorphosis or at stopping the adults from feeding on crops.
Although highly promising in experiments, they proved less successful in
practice.
The new approach uses neem oil rather than neem-kernel extracts.
Experiments have shown that at very low concentrations (2.5 liters per hectare)
this oil, like Dieldrin, prevents locusts from developing into their migratory
swarms. It doesn't kill them but it keeps them in the harmless, solitary (green)
form. It apparently disrupts the formation of hormones necessary for the
transformation into the yellow-and-black gregarious stage whose plagues are the
bane of arid Africa and Arabia.
The neem tree grows throughout West Africa, and thus the locust-control
agent could, in principle, be locally produced. To press the oil out of the neem
kernels and to spray it over the areas where locusts breed and gather requires
neither particularly high-technology equipment nor unexpected expense. The oil
itself is neither toxic to mammals nor to birds and is biodegradable.
Another approach that may have some localized merit is to provide nesting
sites for insectivorous birds. In western China, where another plague locust
occurs, farmers have reportedly met with success by protecting, and even
building, nesting sites for the feathered locust eaters of the area.
EASING EROSION
The effects of soil erosion are well known: it devastates farms and forests;
worsens the effects of flooding; shortens the useful lifetimes of dams, canals,
harbors, and irrigation projects; and pollutes wetlands and coral reefs where
myriad valuable organisms breed. But there could now be a way to slow or even
stop it.
Hedges of a strong, coarse grass called vetiver have restrained erodible soils
for decades in Fiji and several other tropical locations. The hedges are only one
plant wide and the land between them is left free for farming, forestry, or other
purposes. This persistent grass has neither spread nor become a nuisance. If
current experience is applicable elsewhere, vetiver offers a practical and
inexpensive solution to the problem of soil losses in many locations. It could
become an
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exceptionally important component of land use, at least in the hot parts of the
world.
This deeply rooted perennial can already be found throughout Africa, but in
most places the idea of using it as a vegetative barrier to erosion is new and
untested. However, it is not farfetched. Strips of vetiver certainly are able to catch
and hold back soil. The stiff lower stems act as a filter that slows the movement
of water enough that it drops its load of soil.
Equally important, the dense, narrow bands of grass cause the runoff water
to spread out and slow down so that much of it can soak into the soil before it can
rush down the slopes. This captured moisture allows crops to flourish when those
in unprotected neighboring fields are lost to desiccation.
So far, all the international attention has focused on an Indian vetiver
(Vetiveria zizanioides). This is already widespread in Africa and has shown
promise for controlling erosion in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, and South
Africa, and appears to be a blessing for many countries. However, Africa has its
own native Vetiveria species. These are entirely untested, but they may confer
similar benefits. One (Vetiveria nigritana) has long been used to mark out
boundaries of properties in northern Nigeria, for instance,
12
and it has been
employed for the same purpose in Malawi and Zambia as well.
Vetiver has many interesting and unexpected uses. Tobacco farmers in
Zimbabwe report that putting a vetiver hedge around their fields keeps out
creeping-grass weeds, such as kikuyu and couch. It even seems to be a good
barrier to ground fires.
13
In the Sahel, vetiver hedges may prove extremely useful as sand barriers.
Winds off the Sahara often blow sand with such power that it scythes across the
landscape at ankle level, cutting off young crops before they are barely beyond
the seedling stage. Rows of vetiver planted on the windward side of fields could
be an answer. The stiff stalks would doubtless halt the scurrying sand, providing
both a windbreak and a sand trap.
Rows of vetiver planted across wadis may also make excellent water-
harvesting barriers. Once planted, the barriers would be essentially permanent.
The deep-rooted grass is likely to find enough soil moisture to survive even the
driest seasons in most arable locations. Although the upper foliage may die back,
the stiff, strong lower stalks that block the sand, soil, and water will remain.
These are so coarse that not. even goats will graze them to the ground.
12
It spreads so little that in legal disputes vetiver hedges have been officially accepted
as valid property lines. At one documented site in northern Zambia. vetiver still exists in
the same narrow lines that were planted 60 years ago.
13
Vetiver and its promise are described in the companion report Vetiver: A Thin Green
Line Against Erosion. (For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.)
APPENDIX A 281
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HANDLING SMALL SEEDS
As has been noted several times, a major problem with many of Africa's
grainsfinger millet, fonio, and tef, for exampleis that they have tiny seeds.
Size alone is holding these crops back. Small seeds create many difficulties. They
are hard to store and hard to handle because they pour uncontrollably through
even the smallest holes. They also make the crop difficult to plant because the
soil must be very finely textured (clods or clumps can overwhelm the seeds' puny
energy reserves), and the seeds must be placed precisely at just the right depth.
Moreover, because the emerging seedlings are small and weak, they are easily
smothered by weeds.
Many innovations could probably be devised to overcome these problems;
here we present several examples of seeding devices newly developed in four
Third World countries. These are undoubtedly not the only innovations for
planting small-seeded crops, but we present them here as guides to those who
wish to help Africa's lost crops.
Cameroon
In the late 1980s, the Cameroonian Agricultural Tools Manufacturing
Industry (CATMI) in Bamenda produced a seeder that, compared to traditional
planting by hand, reduces planting time by 60 percent and seed requirements by
33 percent. It is not specifically for small-seeded crops but includes a simple
distributer mechanism that can be adjusted to accept seeds of different sizes.
14
It
is said to reliably plant the desired number of seeds at the right depth and distance
apart. It is simple to handle, suitable for planting both on ridges and on flat land,
durable, easy to maintain, and cheap.
In 1988, 30 prototypes were distributed to farmers and research stations for
field testing. After further improvements, 300 more were produced and sent out.
Various agricultural services ran information and demonstration campaigns to
promote the planter. A line of credit was set up in the Northwest Province to
enable small farmers to purchase one. In addition, other provinces were contacted
and provided with demonstrators and seed planters.
A survey after the first planting season (1989) indicated that 97 percent of
the farmers who tried the implement bought it. Not only did it make the work
easier (no back pain) and speeded up planting, but it also reduced the need for
hired labor and helped increase both the area farmed and the yields achieved.
14
This work was done in cooperation with the Departments of Agricultural Engineering
and Rural Socio-Economics of the University of Dschang.
APPENDIX A 282
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Peru15
In the Andean city of Cuzco, Luis Sumar Kalinowski has created a seeder
capable of handling kiwicha,
16
whose seeds are as small as sand grains. It is a
simple, almost cost-free device that can sow large areas evenly and in uniform
rows. It may also work well with Africa's small seeds.
One version of the Sumar seeder uses a scrap piece of plastic pipe with a
foam-plastic cup taped to the end.
17
A nail is pushed gently through the bottom of
the cup to leave a hole of known diameter. Another version employs a
commercially available plastic end piece, which is drilled to provide the hole. In
either case, seed placed in the pipe trickles out at a constant rate, and the farmer
can vary the seeding density by walking faster or slower.
Indeed, by measuring the flow of seed through the hole, it is easy to
calculate how fast to walk (in paces per minute, for example) to sow the desired
density of seed. With a little practice, the farmer can attain an accuracy rivaling
that of mechanical drills. For the method to work, however, it is important that
the seeds be clean and free of straw, small stones, or other debris that could block
the hole.
Tanzania18
Engineers at Morogoro have designed and developed a low-cost, hand-
operated device known as the Magulu hand planter. It includes an attachment that
can be fastened to a hand hoe and can be used to plant both maize and beans in a
straight row. It is said that to plant a hectare of land using the Magulu hand
planter takes between 18 and 27 man-hours as compared with 80 man-hours using
the conventional method of planting by hand hoe.
Thailand
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), which is located near Bangkok,
has developed a mechanical seeder that is now being popularized in many Asian
countries. In one stroke, this so-called "jab seeder" makes a hole, drops a seed,
and covers the site, without the operator ever having to bend over.
The seeder weighs only about 1.5 kg and costs about US$10.00 (including
labor, materials, and mark-up). In Thailand, a farmer can
15
For more information, contact Luis Sumar Kalinowski, Centro de Investigaciones de
Cultivos Andinos. Universidad Nacional Técnica del Altiplano, Avenida de la Infancia N"
440. Huanchac, Cuzco, Peru.
16
This crop (Amaranthus candatus). a species of amaranth. is discussed in the
companion volume Lost Crops of the Incas. (For a list of BOSTID publications, see page
377.)
17
It is not necessary for the pipe to be plastic. Any tubebamboo, cardboard, or other
materialwill do. However, standard household water pipe and the disposable coffee cups
common in many countries fit together well. Also, the foam-type cups are easy to pierce
with a nail, and they leave a clean, smooth hole. Caps with different-sized holes can be
kept on hand for use with different crops.
18
T.E. Simalenga and N. Hatibu, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Sokoine
University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
APPENDIX A 283
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recover the cost, in terms of labor saved, in only 5 days and on an area as little as
one-fifth of a hectare. Mass production is expected to reduce the cost even
further.
In Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai, the idea has already caught
on: a number of local manufacturers are producing mechanical seeders based on
the AIT model.
At present, this machine is not intended specifically for small seeds. It is
used mainly with soybean, rice, maize, and mungbean. But even with these
crops, it brings big advantages in labor saving and yield.
In Nepal, field tests have found thatat wages of 25 rupees (US$1) a day
a farmer can recover the cost of a jab seeder by planting maize or soybean in
just I hectare of land. Fifty seeders made locally by the Agricultural Tools
Factory in Birganj cost US$13.50 each.
By making a less onerous and more systematic operation, the jab seeder
could well increase grain-crop productivity and thereby benefit millions of
Africa's grain farmers.
OTHER INNOVATIONS
Seed planters are probably the main need for small-seeded crops, but they
are not the only need. Various appropriate technologies are required also for
harvesting, storing, shipping, and handling tiny cereal grains. Some of these
might come from techniques devised to produce ornamentals, forages, and
vegetable crops, many of which also have minute seeds.
19
Also, it is not impossible that the size of the seeds could be increased
through selection and breeding. Luis Sumar has already created a simple machine
for doing this in the case of kiwicha. The Sumar sorter uses a small blower and a
sloping plastic pipe. The seeds are blown up the pipe and drop into different
containers, depending on their weight. With it, Sumar has increased the grain size
in kiwicha. He keeps only the heaviest for planting, so that over the years the
crops produce seeds that are ever larger, on average. The use of such a simple,
inexpensive device in Africa might dramatically benefit fonio, finger millet, and
tef, to mention just three cereals.
19
A reviewer from Oklahoma wrote us: "We have been handling small seeds in the
Southern Great Plains with precision for half a century. I worked with native grass seeds
myself for 25 years. Some of the seeds are smaller than tef, fonio, or finger millet. We had
equipment that would mete out seed at low seeding rates very accurately and plant them
with precision. Our planters, processors, and cleaners are, perhaps, too sophisticated for
subsistence farmers, but modified versions are well within the capabilities of most village
mechanics and blacksmiths. The technology has been available for a long time. Suggest
you contact Chet Dewald, Southern Great Plains Range Research Station, 2000) 18
th
Street, Woodward, Oklahoma 73801."
APPENDIX A 284
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Appendix B
Potential Breakthroughs in Grain Handling
Appendix A identified technological advances that might boost the
production of indigenous African grains. Here we identify other advances that
might similarly influence the methods of milling and storing those grains. These,
too, are innovations that, in principle, could bring outstanding benefits
continent-wide. Again, however, it should be realized that they are just a
smattering of examples that caught our attention as the book was being prepared.
Other cutting-edge technologies may be as good, or better.
NO MORE POUNDING
Every day of the year, perhaps 50 million Africansmost of them women
and childrenspend hours preparing the grain that their families will eat that
day. They usually soak the grain in water, pound it with the butt end of a heavy
wooden pole (pestle) to knock off the outer seed coat, winnow the beaten mixture
to separate the bran, moisten the grain a second time, and finally pound it yet
again to break it up into flour.
This is always a hot and disagreeable task. It limits both cereal use and life
itself. Decorticating enough pearl millet for a family meal (about 2.5 kg) takes
two women about 1.5 hours; converting the product into flour with a mortar and
pestle requires an additional 2 hours, sometimes more. Moreover, because the
flour spoils quickly and cannot be put aside for later use, it has to be done day
after day, in fair weather and foul, and regardless of sickness or other
indisposition.
Probably no single development could help rural Africa more than relief
from this never-ending drudgery. It would recover millions of "lost" hours every
year, it would improve health and family welfare,
APPENDIX B 285
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SORGHUM AND WOMEN
Sorghum is a women's crop in Africa. To a large extent, they are its
planters, cultivators, and harvesters. Through the accumulated wisdom of
centuries, women have amassed information about the crop and its
handling. Many are expert in distinguishing closely related varieties . . . a
knowledge which meneven professional scientistsseldom attain. Only
now, however, are researchers beginning to pay attention to this
knowledge.
Joyce Kanyangwa is one of those. Working under the auspices of
Texas Tech University, she traveled to three sorghum-growing areas of
Lesotho, visiting selected households to gain a perspective on attitudes
about the use of sorghum. ''I was interested in finding out what might be
done to expand the use of sorghum in the diet to give women more income
for their labor, as well as a cheaper staple for their tables," she explains.
Her research indicates that improving sorghum use can do much to
help Africa's women. "Sorghum is a woman's crop, but the market for the
product is limited primarily to brewing beer for men," she notes.
Better processing methods are particularly needed. The processing and
cooking of sorghum and millet takes more time than rice. Women going to
work, either in the fields or in the community, have less and less time
available for processing and cooking. Small-scale rural sorghum and millet
processing mills, like the rice mills already available in India, could help
promote the consumption of sorghum and millet.
"When sorghum is processed using a special machine, people like it,"
Kanyangwa says. "I'm optimistic that the crop has the potential for helping
female-headed households feed their families better and for helping women
make more money."
The introduction of suitable dehullers and flour mills will:
Reduce the drudgery of women in the sorghum eating areas.
Convert sorghum into a much more convenient grain.
Improve the quality of sorghum products.
Check the tendency of shifting from sorghum to other grains.
Help develop composite flours and commercialize sorghum products.
Opposite: Ethiopia. Danakil Depression. At the entrance to her hut, over a
goatskin, an Adoimara Danakil woman grinds sorghum between two stones.
(Victor Englebert)
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and it would make the whole continent more productive. Perhaps most
important in the long run, it would secure the future of the local grains. At
present, the burden of the terrible toil is causing a silent rebellion against
sorghum, millet, and the other indigenous cereals.
Now an option is emerging. Small power mills can, in just a few minutes,
perform the task that now absorbs so much human energy and time. Some of the
most successful consist of a series of 8 or 12 grinding stones of the type used for
sharpening tools. The essential component, the dehuller, was originally designed
at the Prairie Regional Laboratory in Saskatoon, Canada. A small version
specially sized for rural Africa has been built, field-tested, and improved at The
Rural Industries Innovation Centre in Kanye, Botswana. It is powered by a small
diesel engine.
Reportedly, the machines waste no more grain than hand pounding does.
(Recovery rates of 85 percent have been achieved, which is 10 percent better than
is normal in the village.) Also the machine-dehulled grains apparently make no
detectable changes in local foods. Since they use dry grain, the dehullers are more
flexible than traditional methods, and the resulting flour can be stored.
The dehuller does only half of what African women do: it takes off the
seed's outer layer, leaving white, ricelike grain. A further grinding is needed to
make flour or grits. To do this mechanically, a hammer mill is employed. In some
cases, the dehuller and hammer mill are combined into a single unit.
Although these mechanical systems were designed primarily for processing
sorghum and pearl millet, they have also proved satisfactory for fonio and food
legumes such as cowpeas and pigeon peas.
1
One of the main attractions is their
capacity to handle (without major adjustment) grains of widely different size.
Under a Canadian-sponsored program, different models are currently being
developed or distributed for use in Senegal, the Gambia, and Zimbabwe. Mali and
Niger, following Botswana's lead, are creating designs suitable for local
toolmakers to build.
Mechanized processing probably has its most immediate use in cities and
towns. In rural areas, people must carry their grain to the mill and then carry
home their flour and bran. For them, the chore of carrying several kilograms
several kilometers may be just as onerous as staying home and pounding the grain
with a pole. However, there are ways to circumvent this. In Botswana, for
instance, a donkey cart is being made available without charge to carry the grain
and flour back and forth. (The donkey is fed on the customer's bran waste.) Also,
the milling unit could conceivably be mounted on a cart and
1
Finger millet is difficult to mill mechanically, but in India a suitable device has been
perfected (see page 48).
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wheeled to the customers. Thus, for example, a mobile mill might stop at various
villages once a week and process the grain on the consumer's own doorsteps. A
hammer mill perhaps might not work on such a system, but the dehuller alone
would relieve the major and most unpleasant part of the drudgery.
All of this opens the possibility of substantially lessening the burdens that at
present fall so heavily on millions of people. It will probably widen the mix of
crops they grow. It could increase lifestyle options and employment opportunities
by freeing women from the daily morning and evening chore of pounding grain.
It may contribute dramatically to better health among women and children,
provide time for more productive pursuits, create better markets for farmers, and
lead to a more stable food situation for many countries.
2
Despite the fact that people must pay to have their cereal mechanically
milled, this mini-milling industry is already starting to take hold in parts of
Africa. Several nations have introduced the Canadian-type mills, and support for
their maintenance has quickly spread, even into remote areas. Moreover,
merchants and consumers throughout Africa are showing increasing interest in
buying and using flours instead of unprocessed grain. A grain revolution seems to
be arising, bringing new options for farmers and consumers, as well as new
possibilities for a better life in the rural areas.
GRAIN DRAIN
To worry only about grain production is not enough: what counts is the
amount and quality of the food that gets into people's bodies. Today,
unfortunately, much of Africa's cereal crop never gets that farit spoils or is lost
sometime after the harvest. Estimates suggest perhaps 25 percent of each year's
food production is either lost or rendered unfit.
3
The reasons are clear. During
handling and storage, heat and humidity foster molds and rots that ruin much
grain. Insects, rodents, and birds steal enormous amounts. Most subsistence
farmers store their harvest in small granaries (capacity 1.5 tons or so) and 1020
percent usually deteriorates or disappears before it can be eaten.
An obvious answer is better storage, and these days pest-proof silos built of
several materials are showing much promise. Examples follow.
2
This topic seems especially well suited to the U.S. Agency for International
Development's current programs on "family issues."
3
The exact figure is not known for certain. Some writers claim that postharvest grain
losses in Africa sometimes top 40 percent, mainly due to poor processing and storage.
Others say that it is less than 10 percent. Certain types of traditional stores are very
effective, but a 25-percent loss is very common in government stores (partly because
farmers often contribute only their poorest materials). And the losses on the farm can rise
dramatically if a new variety of grain is produced.
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Brick
A Zimbabwean engineer, Campbell D. Kagoro, has for years been
developing a granary built of local brick.
4
His structuresknown as ENDA
granarieshave been installed in dry, poverty-prone areas of Zimbabwe. People
there (as elsewhere in Africa) know how to manufacture baked-clay bricks. To
build the silos, they lay the bricks directly on gravel-covered soil or on rock. (In
some instances, wooden joists and masonry footings are used.) They cover the
final structure with a waterproof thatch roof. The silos have a capacity of about
2.5 tons and may include up to five compartments for storing different products.
They are equipped with air vents and are said to offer excellent protection against
dampness, insects, and rodents.
Ferrocement
A form of reinforced concrete, ferrocement utilizes materials that are
normally readily availablewire mesh, sand, water, and cement. It does not
corrode easily and can last a lifetime.
Experience in Thailand and Ethiopia has demonstrated that ferrocement silos
can be built on site relatively inexpensively, using unskilled labor and only one
supervisor. In such silos, losses are less than 1 percent per year. Rodents, birds,
insects, and dampness cannot get in.
5
If the bin is well constructed and its lid
tightly sealed (tubing from a bicycle tire makes a useful gasket), even air cannot
get in. Inside an airtight silo, the respiring grain quickly uses up the oxygen.
Insects (eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults), as well as any other air-breathing
organisms introduced with the grain, are then destroyed.
The possibility of putting ferrocement silos on every farm is demonstrated
by a remarkable program in Thailand. There, where the concern is storing pure
water rather than grain, the government has provided three ferrocement jars (each
two cubic meters in size) for every family of six in rural areas. The project
involved three million families and nine million jars. Each jar costs $20, but the
per-capita costbecause a revolving fund of $13 million is recoverablecan be
as low as 42 cents.
Heat is a basic problem with ferrocement (and most other) silos. Bins in the
burning sun can warm up so much that moisture evaporates
4
This work has been done at the Agricultural Technical and Extension Service
(Agritex) in Zimbabwe. The design was developed by the Institute of Agricultural
Engineering (IAE) and Agritex. ENDA-Zimbabwe (Environment, Development,
Activities) has joined with Agritex to undertake a major study of the subject, with
financial assistance from IDRC.
5
Hundreds of ferrocement boats floating on the world's waterways demonstrate that this
material can be watertight, but the construction must be top quality because the
ferrocement is usually only a centimeter or so thick.
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from the grain, collects at the top, and fosters molds or sprouting. For this reason,
silos should always be located in the shade of trees or houses, sunk in the ground,
or surrounded with some rough-and-ready sun shield (thatch or scraps of foamed
plastic comes to mind).
Although much of the promise is for small bins for household use,
ferrocement can also be used to construct large storage facilities for town or
regional use. One of the most intriguing is the horizontal "sleeping silo"
pioneered in Argentina (where they are used mostly for storing potatoes). These
large structures are shaped like the hull of an upside-down ship half buried in the
ground. Bulkheads give strength and also create separate compartments in which
different products or different owners' products can be stored. Compared to the
towering grain elevators now used in much of the world, the horizontal
counterparts lie on the ground and require little in the way of engineering,
footings, or structural reinforcing.
Mud
Recently, an airtight grain store made from clay and straw has been
introduced to Sierra Leone. The silo, demonstrated by Chinese instructors
brought by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is simple in
construction, low in cost, and has potential to significantly decrease postharvest
grain losses.
The raw materials in this case consist of mud and straw, and the finished silo
is roofed with boards, straw, reeds, or other waterproof materials. Its inventors
are the peasants of northeast China who, from time immemorial, have built tiny
mud turrets to store their household food reserves. In recent years, a national
campaign to decentralize grain storage has led to this very simple and
economical technique being used throughout the Chinese countryside. In fact,
mud silos are now being built as large as 8 m in height and diameter, to hold 200
tons.
Ghana, too, has been testing improved mud silos.
6
Instead of ordinary mud,
however, sun-dried molded mud bricks, from a locally made mold, are used for
the circular wall. The top is a separately molded mud slab. The whole unit is
sealed with a mixture of mud and clay, and the wall is whitewashed to maintain
coolness.
Neither of these two silos requires any great expertise to construct or use.
Plastic
Researchers in Australia and the Philippines in recent years have jointly
developed sealed plastic enclosures for storing grain in ware
6
Adopted by the Ghana German Agricultural Development Project (GGADP).
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houses located in the humid tropics. In 1992, a new project was begun to design a
counterpart suited to the smaller-scale and outdoor needs of cooperatives, small
millers, and merchants. The scientists have developed a plastic container that is
rodent- and insect-proof and protects grain against the extremes of the tropical
environment. It is also simple to fumigate and suitable for storing damp grain
before drying. The plastic silos have been designed using the general principles
already employed for storing bulk grains in Australia. Although conducted in and
for the Philippines, this work seems suitable for application throughout the humid
tropics.
7
Rubber
Israel's agricultural research organization, familiarly known as the Volcani
Institute, has pioneered development of simple, cheap, and easily movable grain
stores with capacities up to 1,000 tons. These collapsible, tentlike structures can
be taken down, trucked to a new site, and quickly reassembleda novel feature
that makes them especially useful for handling emergency food supplies and for
storing excess grain from unexpectedly bountiful crops. The walls are constructed
of rolls of strong wire mesh (actually weldmesh fencing material), but the grain is
held within UV-resistant plastic liners. These silos are sufficiently airtight to
control insect infestation without requiring pesticides. They are primarily for use
in drier areas.
DRYING GRAIN
Insects and rodents are not the only grain despoilers. Insufficient drying also
leads to vast amounts of damage. Dampness fosters molding, sprouting, and
decay that renders grain inedible. Drying the grains before storing them is
therefore vital. Techniques for doing this under Third World conditions are being
devised in several parts of the world.
Sierra Leone
Farmers in six districts of Sierra Leone are replacing traditional mud floors,
used for drying freshly harvested rice, with improved drying yards. This cheap
and simple change keeps the grain clean, lessens the drying time, and reduces
postharvest losses by more than half.
7
This research was sponsored by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural
Research (ACIAR), G.P.O. Box 1571, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia.
APPENDIX B 292
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United States
The Food and Feed Grains Institute of Kansas State University has designed a
new kind of dryer for developing country use. It has no fan or other moving parts
and uses heat generated by burning weeds, rice husks, agricultural by-products,
or other wastes.
This natural-convection, hot-air drying could open up new options in many
areas of Africa where today the only cereals that can be grown are those that
mature after the rains have ceased (when grains can be dried in the sun). In 1990,
Kansas State tested its dryers under conditions of very high rainfall in Peru and
Belize. Sun-drying was impractical, even impossible, but the new dryer proved
very effective: rough rice was reduced from a level of 20 percent moisture to 14
percent in only about an hour. While this is too fast for everyday practice with
rice, it clearly demonstrated that the dryer would perform well in the dampness of
the tropical rainy season.
Thailand
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), near Bangkok, has developed a
simple solar dryer, constructed of bamboo poles and clear plastic sheeting.
8
It can
process up to one ton of rice at a time and even in the wet season can reduce the
moisture content from 22 percent down to 14 percent in about 2 days. It is said to
cost only around US$150 to build.
In this device, sunlight passes through a clear plastic sheet and strikes a
layer of black ash (burnt rice husk) or black plastic sheet. This absorbs the solar
energy, converting it into warm air. The heated air rises by natural convection
through the slatted floor of the rice box, up through the grain (contained in fine
wire mesh), and out a tall chimney (again fabricated from bamboo and plastic
sheet).
Korea
In the early 1980s rice farmers in South Korea faced postharvest losses of
about 10 percent. But now those losses have been halved, thanks to a new
technology.
9
The system has been so successful that just 8 years after the project
was launched, 70,000 dryers had been purchased. By 1995, half a million are
expected to have been built.
8
This work is part of a project sponsored by the International Development Research
Centre of Canada.
9
The dryer was developed jointly by the University of Hohenheim in Germany and the
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Funds for the program
were provided by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
GmbH.
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With this method, the grain is dried using a low-temperature process that
mainly exploits the drying potential of ambient air. Basically, a fan blows air
through grain in a silo. The process is cheap, requires little capital investment,
and the silo can subsequently be used for storage purposes. To enable drying in
humid weather and during the night, a small electric heater is used to heat the
ambient air a few degrees.
In practice, the dryer is a room-sized brick structure, with a false floor to
prevent soil moisture from seeping up. The air is uniformly distributed using
wood or sheet metal air ducts, laid on this false floor. The air is pushed through
the piled-up grain by a small 400-watt electric fan.
KILLING STORAGE INSECTS
The need to protect Africa's stored food from insects is particularly
important these days. The larger grain borer, a Central American beetle
introduced accidentally into Tanzania and West Africa, is relentlessly spreading
through maize-growing areas. This voracious pest feeds on stored maize,
cassava, wheat, sorghum, sweet potato, peanuts, and other foods. The destruction
it causes can be devastating; in tests in Tanzania up to 34 percent of cob maize in a
crib has been destroyed after only 3 months, and up to 70 percent of dried cassava
after only 4 months.
Insects get into even the best silos when the grain is added. Previously, there
were no cheap and effective controls for subsistence farmers to use. However,
some innovations follow that might help overcome the problem.
Sunshine
Researchers in India have found that farm produce can be disinfested by
"roasting" the bugs in the sun. They first wrap a square sheet of black
polyethylene around two slats of wood, leaving a "mouth" at either end. After
filling the resulting pouch with produce to a depth of 3 or 4 cm, they seal the ends
by weighing them down with slats of wood or bags of earth. Finally, they add a
covering of transparent polyethylene. This transmits sunlight through to the black
inner pouch and traps the heat inside.
The inventors, T.S. Krishnamurthy and colleagues,
10
report that insects, at
all stages of the life cycle, die when kept at 60°C for 10
10
At the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, India. This work is
described in Appropriate Technology, December 1991, p. 15.
APPENDIX B 294
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minutes. They tested pouches of varying sizes containing several kinds of
produce, including wheat, rice, pulses, and semolina. A pouch containing 40 kg
of peanuts, for example, reached an internal temperature of 67°C in just 4 hours.
Wheat took 6 hours to reach 61°C. No insects survived.
Neem Products
Neem (see Appendix A, page 279) is an Indian tree that has been introduced
widely in Africa and now can be found from Mauritania to Mauritius. People in
neem's homeland have long known that ingredients in its leaves and seeds can
disrupt the lives of storage insects. For thousands of years, Indians, for example,
have placed neem leaves in their grain bins to keep away troublesome bugs.
Now, scientists are finding that there is technical justification for this process and
commercial neem-based pesticides are already being employed in the United
States.
11
With all the neems in Africa (not to mention the new ones being planted
because of the rising international enthusiasm for this tree), neem-based methods
for controlling insects in grain stores are soon likely to be widely available.
Some German-sponsored research has already pioneered one approach that
employs the oil extracted from neem seeds.
12
In this project, neem oil has proved
effective against bruchid beetlesthe prime pest of Africa's stored products.
Amounts as small as 2-3 ml per kg of stored food will protect grains and legume
seeds up to 6 months-long enough to overcome the critical period when bruchids
and other storage insect pests are active.
In Togo, a program for teaching farmers how to protect seeds with neem has
been under way for the past 15 years.
13
Now Niger, Senegal, and other nations
are following suit. Neem oil imparts no bitterness to the food. In trials, people
could not distinguish the seeds protected by it.
Probably in the long run, however, it will be neem leaves that are used most.
This is the simple technique employed since ancient times in India. The leaves
are merely added to the grain at various levels in the bin. The leaves eventually
dry out, turn to powder, and (for all intents and purposes) disappear. The
important thing is that bruchids, weevils, and flour beetles disappear also.
11
See the companion report Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems for more
information. For a list of BOSTID publications, see page 377.
12
See also Appendix A. page 279.
13
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
APPENDIX B 295
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Mineral Dusts
For some time researchers have known that certain powdery minerals can
kill insects. The sharp-edged dust particles "spear" through the thin joints between
the horny plates of the animal's exoskeleton. This was first recognized with
diatomaceous earth, a widely available, completely safe powder that kills
cockroaches almost on contact. Now scientists in Nigeria have found that a
common local mineral called "trona" also works in the same wayat least on
certain storage pests.
In experiments, powdered trona proved lethal to the maize weevil
(Sitophilus zeamais), causing almost 100 percent mortality after 15 days of
exposure. It also reduced the maize weevil's fecundity in grains treated with the
dust.
14
Trona, Na
2
CO
3
·NaHCO
3·
2H
2
O, is a crystalline carbonate/bicarbonate that
occurs naturally in several parts of Africa. It is apparently not toxic to humans
and livestock. Indeed, in most African countries, rural people use it as a food
additive.
15
For example, they commonly drop it into okra soups to increase the
mucilaginous quality or into boiling cowpeas to reduce the cooking time. In
northern Nigeria, farmers add trona to their cattle's drinking water.
Mixing trona dust with maize grains (at 1.5 percent by weight or more)
killed or inhibited the biological activities of the most ubiquitous pest of stored
maize, the maize weevil; but another noxious pest, the red flour beetle (Tribolium
castaneum), was unaffected.
16
Mineral dusts may never be fully reliable in grain-store insect control, but
their permanence, low toxicity, and ready availability make them attractive
possibilities for a simple, cheap, and ubiquitous answer to at least part of the
massive and widespread storage losses.
14
L.C. Emebiri and M.I. Nwufo. 1990. Effect of Trona (Urao) on the survival and
reproduction of Sitophilus zeamais and Tribolium castaneum on stored maize.
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 32:69-75. (L.C. Emebiri and M.I. Nwufo,
Department of Crop Production, S.A.A.T., Federal University of Technology, Owerri,
P.M.B. 1526, Nigeria.)
15
It is known locally as kaunin Nigeria and kanwe in Ghana.
16
A similar finding has been reported in respect to an inert diatomaceous earth, which
was lethal to eight pests of stored products but was harmless to the red flour beetle. S.D.
Carlson and H.J. Ball. 1962. Mode of action and insecticidal value of a diatomaceous earth
as a grain protectant. Journal of Economic Entomology 55:964-970.
APPENDIX B 296
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Appendix C
Potential Breakthroughs in Convenience
Foods
Most people have never considered (or perhaps have abandoned) the idea of
sorghum, millet, and the other African grains becoming prestigious foods for up-
scale mass consumption. Everyone accepts that wheat is sold as bread, pastries,
and baked goods; rice comes in all sorts of precooked forms; and maize is
routinely available in convenient flour or grits. However, almost no one thinks of
sorghum and millets in the same light. These African cereals are relegated to the
limbo of foods suited only for personal use in rural regions by individual families
who have to prepare their own food from raw grain.
But possible ways to upgrade Africa's own grains are on the horizon, and
these deserve thorough investigation and development. Such processing
breakthroughs can break the malicious mind-set, diversify the uses, improve the
nutritive value, and boost the acceptability among consumers. Their success will
create convenient-to-use foods, open vast new markets for Africa's farmers, and
improve both rural economies and the balance of payments of many nations. In
this particular sense, food technologists hold the key to the future of the lost
grains of Africa.
This topic is far too broad to be covered adequately here. (It actually
deserves a major international research endeavor.) Nonetheless, a few possible
innovationsencountered while compiling this reportare mentioned below,
just to provide perspective on some opportunities that are now languishing
through lack of initiative.
POPPING
Popping is a simple technique that produces light, attractive, ready-to-eat
products. It improves taste and flavor and it yields a crunchy, convenient food.
Most people think of it as a process only for maize, and no wonder: popcorn is
wildly popular among Americans and
APPENDIX C 297
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others who know it well. What has hardly been appreciated, however, is that
most of Africa's grains also pop. While less spectacular than popcorn, they do
expand dramatically and they, too, take on an agreeable toasty flavor. In the
future, popped forms of sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, fonio, and perhaps
other grains could find extensive usage.
As has been mentioned previously (pages 43 and 177), people in India
already pop sorghum and finger millet on a large, and sometimes commercial,
scale. They often mix together milk, brown sugar (jaggery), and popped finger
millet to create a very pleasant dessert. Popped finger millet is also used in
brewing.
For finger millet, as well as for Africa's other cereals, popping seems to
offer many benefits. It is a promising way to increase the grain size, create
ready-to-eat foods, and add flavor to what are often bland dishes. Something
similar is happening in the United States with amaranth. This former staple of the
Aztecs and Incas is making a comeback, largely as a popped snack food.
Recently, a continuous popper designed to handle amaranth's extremely small
seeds was patented.
1
Such a device may well be the key to commercially popping
Africa's small-grain cereals as well.
Once the popped grains are available, many new foods are likely to be
created. Indian food scientists have blended popped finger millet with legumes
such as puffed chick pea or toasted green gram to form nutritious and very tasty
new foods.
2
In Africa, something similar might be done using legumes such as
peanut, cowpea, or bambara groundnut.
PUFFING
The process of puffing, a variant on popping, was discovered almost a
century ago. Since then, cereals made from puffed rice and puffed wheat have
been breakfast staples worldwide. Puffed oats and maize are now also produced.
In the puffing process the grain is placed in a sealed chamber and heated
until the pressure rises. Then the chamber, or puffing ''gun," is suddenly opened.
Relieved of the pressure, the water vapor expands, blowing up the grains to many
times their original size (for wheat, 8-16 times; for rice, 6-8 times). Finally, they
are toasted and dried until crisp.
Puffing has probably never been attempted with African rice, fonio, tef, or
the other African grains, but it is another possible way to
1
The machine was developed by Edward S. Hubbard, American Amaranth, Inc.,
Bricelyn, Minnesota.
2
Information from H.S.R. Desikachar.
APPENDIX C 298
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boost the size of these small grains, add flavor, and produce quality convenience
foods with high consumer demand.
MALTING
Germination also upgrades the quality and taste of cereals. The sprouting
process, known as malting, releases amylase enzymes that break starches down
into more digestible forms including sugars. The result is to liquefy, sweeten, and
raise the nutritional value.
Malting is particularly good for children because they can better assimilate
the partially digested nutrients.
3
During World War II, government authorities in
Great Britain (to mention just one country) seized on malting as a way to prevent
childhood malnutrition brought on by wartime food shortages. Malt extract was
produced in large amounts and distributed for daily use by children. This thick,
dark, pasty material may have looked awful, but children loved its sweet and
pleasant taste. It is in fact still sold in parts of the world, not so much as a
nutritional supplement but as an everyday food that people buy for its flavor. It is
also the key flavoring ingredient in famous foods such as malted milk and
Ovaltine
®
.
Why malting is not more widely used in these days of mass malnutrition is a
puzzlement. Perhaps the process is so associated with barley that the two have
become almost synonymous, and, because barley will not grow where
malnutrition mostly occurs, it is never considered. What has been overlooked,
however, is that finger millet and some sorghums are almost as good at malting
as barley. Their amylase activity is also high. And they will grow where the
malnutrition is rife.
It is perhaps the ultimate irony that malting is practiced every day in many
African homes, but the fact that malted grains make fine foods is overlooked.
4
Finger millet malt, for example, is great tasting, easily digested, rich in both
calcium and sulfur-containing amino acids, and an ideal base for foods for
everyone, from the very young to the very old.
5
But most of what is made these
days is used in fermentations that produce beer (see box, page 168).
3
For more on this topic, see Appendix D. where the use of malts in preparing weaning
foods is discussed.
4
Villagers are not the only ones who misunderstand malting. Missionaries in more than
one country have preached against it in the mistaken belief that malted foods are
alcoholic.
5
Malleshi and Desikachar, 1986a.
APPENDIX C 299
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FERMENTING
Lactic acid fermentations are used worldwide to produce foods such as sour
cream, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchee, soy sauce, and pickled vegetables of all
kinds. Except for making sourdough bread, it is so far not used widely to "sour"
cereal products. But in Africa it is traditionally used to flavor and preserve
porridges and to produce popular foods such as bogobe (sour sorghum porridge)
in Botswana, nasha (sour sorghum and millet porridge) in the Sudan, and
obusera (sour millet porridge) in Uganda. People in many parts of the continent
prefer the sharp flavor of these fermented porridges.
6
Despite its almost complete neglect by cereal science, acid fermentation is
yet another process for upgrading a grain's taste and nutritive value. For the food
supply of Africa, it is particularly promising. The lactic acid fermentation process
is well known. It is generally inexpensive and requires little or no heating, making
it fuel efficient. It yields highly acceptable and diversified flavors. And it usually
improves nutritive value.
It is commonly used in households (at least throughout eastern and southern
Africa) and remains one of the most practical ways to preserve food for hundreds
of millions of hungry people who cannot obtain or afford canned or frozen foods.
Lactic acid fermentations make foods resistant to spoilage, thereby
performing an essential role in preserving wholesomeness. The bacteria rapidly
acidify the food to a pH so low that dangerous organisms are no longer able to
grow. They also produce hydrogen peroxide, which kills organisms that cause
food spoilage (the lactobacilli themselves are relatively resistant to hydrogen
peroxide). Certain lactic bacteria (notably, Streptococcus lactis) produce the
antibiotic nisin, active against gram-positive organisms. Others produce carbon
dioxide, which also helps preserve foods, notably by displacing oxygen (if the
substrate is properly protected).
The course of the fermentation can be controlled by adding salt. Salting
limits the amount of pectinolytic and proteolytic hydrolysis that occurs, thereby
controlling softening (as well as preventing putrefaction).
Although fermented porridges were once extremely popular in rural Africa
and are still widely consumed, their popularity appears to be declining. Some
consumers are turning to alien alternatives that are widely advertised, such as tea
or carbonated drinks. In many districts, farmers (as we have noted earlier) are
giving up sorghum and millet and are growing maize. And in others, people are
said "to lack the will and the interest" to prepare traditional fermented porridges.
6
The use of such fermentations to make baby food is discussed in Appendix D.
APPENDIX C 300
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But for all that, fermentations have a future and deserve recognition and
attention. For one thing, they are very promising for creating weaning foods that
may overcome mass malnutrition (see next appendix). For another, lactic acid
fermentations are promising as commercial methods of processing and preserving
food as well as for creating business enterprises.
PRECOOKING
To help meet the demands of an ever hungrier Africa (not to mention the
world), the partial cooking of grains looks particularly promising. When dropped
into boiling water, most (perhaps all) of the grains described in the earlier
chapters soften within 5 or 10 minutes. The hot water partially gelatinizes the
starch so that the dough sticks together and can be rolled into sheets or squeezed
into noodles.
Some food technologists have already begun applying such processes to
sorghum and pearl millet.
7
In the future, precooking might be applied to most of
Africa's native cereals to produce top-quality, ready-to-cook foods that are stable,
more nutritious, and easy to store.
Below we highlight three techniquesparboiling, flaking, and extruding.
Parboiling8
Parboiling is basically the process of partially cooking grain while it is still
in the husk (that is, before any milling). The raw grain is briefly boiled or
steamed. (Generally, it is merely soaked in water, drained, and then heated.) Only
after the resulting product is dried is it dehusked and decorticated.
What results is very different from the normal milled grain. Sorghum
kernels, for instance, come out looking like rice: light-colored, translucent, firm,
and intactattractive in both appearance and aroma and much less sticky than
normal. Of course, they still must be cooked to become edible.
Parboiling not only gelatinizes the starch in the grains, it also does the
following:
Makes the milling process more efficient. (In a recent trial
7
In this regard, notable work is being done at the Central Food Technological Research
Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, Karnataka 570 013, India. There. N.G. Malleshi and his
colleagues, although thousands of kilometers from Africa, have been doing work of great
possible significance to the future of African grains.
8
This section is based largely on the paper by R. Young, M. Haidara, L.W. Rooney, and
R.D. Waniska. 1990. Parboiled sorghum: development of a novel decorticated product.
Journal of Cereal Science 11:277-289.
APPENDIX C 301
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with soft-kernel sorghum, parboiling more than doubled the yield of
decorticated grain.)
Inactivates enzymes and thereby greatly extends shelf life. (It even
improves the storability of pearl-millet flour, a material notorious for
turning smelly during storage.)
Kills insects and their eggs so that it reduces storage losses.
Improves the grain's cooking characteristics. (Boiling parboiled sorghum,
for instance, doesn't produce mush; instead, the kernels remain separate,
whole, and very much like pilaf or rice.)
Improves nutritional values. (This is notably because it helps retain
water-soluble constituentssuch as the B vitamins and certain minerals
that otherwise are thrown out with the cooking water.)
Upgrades certain grains that have poor processing characteristics (the soft
endosperm in finger millet, for example).
Given its now widespread use in the rice industry, parboiling is a
surprisingly recent newcomer to commerce. Until the 1930s, it was hardly known
outside South Asia where it was a village technology employed by poor people in
their cottages. In the last 60 years, however, parboiled rice has rocketed into
extensive worldwide use, and parboiling is now done on a giant commercial scale
in countries such as the United States.
Parboiling is still good for village-level use, however. For example, field
trials in Mali, using local sorghum and pearl millet, showed that it was practical,
satisfactory, and boosted the yields from milling. Malian families tested the
parboiled grains in local dishes and condiments (such as peanut sauce) and rated
them very acceptable.
9
At first sight, the extra energy and effort needed to parboil grains would
seem to be a major disadvantage. However, the increases in yield and
quality provide both the processor and consumer with substantial benefits.
10
Rice
is already parboiled in the villages of some parts of Mali (not to mention half of
India), which certainly suggests that the product is good enough so that people
will find the fuel and put in the extra effort to prepare it.
Flaking
In this process, decorticated (pearled) grains are soaked, heated, partially
dried (to about 18 percent moisture), pressed between rollers,
9
These tests were run at Sotuba. The whole grain was washed, placed in cast-iron pots
(covered) and heated in tap water over an open fire until the boiling point was reached.
The pots were then taken from the fire and allowed to cool overnight. The next morning
they were heated again and drained immediately after once more reaching the boil. The
moist grain was next spread out in the shade to dry (24 hours for pearl millet and 48 hours
for sorghum). The final product was decorticated with a mechanical mill.
10
An increase of only 1-2 percent in the milled yield of commercially parboiled rice
gives the processor enough profit to offset the extra energy costs.
APPENDIX C 302
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THE POWER OF PROCESSED FOODS
Despite the reliance on sorghum and millet in some countries, and
despite consumer preference for flour made from them, the industrial
production and commercialization of local flour has barely been established
in Africa. Sorghum and millet flours are still mainly produced by each
individual household. On the other hand, the introduced grainswheat,
rice, and maizeare more commonly milled at commercial facilities.
This makes the foreign grains look superior and it holds back the local
cereals. And the situation is worsening. Soon, the rural labor force could be
insufficient. Thus, even if production is increased there won't be the people
to process it. For example, in most regions it is the young women who
process most of the grain, but increasingly they are going to school, getting
jobs, or abandoning the countryside to seek opportunity in the cities.
In a sense, then, it is imperative to find and develop good profitable
uses for millet, sorghum, and the others. And the time is ripe. With
increasing urbanization and rising disposable incomes, the demand for
preprocessed and convenience foods is accelerating. This is one reason
why commercially milled wheat and maize flour are increasingly preferred.
Sorghum and millet are much cheaper, but they are unprocessed and
therefore less convenient to use. As a result, markets for locally grown
sorghum and millet are diminishing, incentives for local production are
deteriorating, and foreign exchange reserves are dwindling to meet ever-
rising demands for preprocessed flours.*
In dry regions, processing facilities are particularly vital to the future of
local cereal farming. There, sorghum and millet are essential for a viable
agricultural community. Both crops are so drought tolerant they can grow
where other cereals cannot. When imported flour crushes the demand for
them, the farmers are left with no outlet for their grain in years of good
rainfall when they have a surplus. And when market prices fall, farmers
cannot afford the inputs, such as fertilizer, that can keep their yields up.
If, as has been noted, markets for local flour and processed foods are
developed, a large and healthy trade between a country's own sorghum,
millet, and fonio farmers and its cities could operate to everyone's benefit.
Success with processing would likely transform Africa's native cereals
into big-time, high-value worldwide foods.
* FAO reports that between 1961 and 1977, imports of wheat, rice, and maize to Africa
increased between 5 and 10 percent a year, whereas the production of sorghum and millet
increased 0.2-1 percent.
APPENDIX C 303
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and, finally, completely dried into flakes.
11
The resulting product is a
convenience food of many potential uses. The flakes store well and hydrate
quickly when dropped into warm water or milk. They can be used in many types
of sweet or savory dishes. When deep fried, they burst into light and crispy
products.
African grains are particularly suitable for flaking because they are small and
soak up water quickly. But although the process is simple, it is seldom used
today. The holdup seems to be purely technological: grain-flaking machines are
large, expensive, and inappropriate for Third World use. Now, however, a
simple, inexpensive machine capable of flaking cereals in villages has been
developed in India.
12
A unit has been installed in a village near Bhopal, and the
people took to it and were able to operate it without supervision.
This type of invention could open up a new world for sorghum, millet,
fonio, and other grains. More than 30 years ago, South African researchers mixed
sorghum flour with water, then passed the slurry through a hot roller that both
cooked and dried it. The resulting ready-to-eat flour proved very palatable and
would keep for at least 3 months without deteriorating. Whole milk or skim milk
(used in place of the water) produced a similar flour that was not only tasty but
rich in protein, calcium, and phosphorus. Processing costs were reportedly low.
13
Extruding
Extruding is a variant of the flaking process. The moistened and half-cooked
grains are squeezed out through small holes. It is how noodles and pastas of all
kinds are prepared. It, too, improves water absorption and cooking quality.
Noodlelike products can probably be made from all the grains highlighted in this
report. The pearled grains are first soaked for a day or two, then drained, mashed,
cooked, extruded, and dried.
Noodles prepared from blends of finger millet and legume flours are already
being used in India to form nutritionally balanced foods that can be used as
supplementary foods for malnourished children.
14
When deep fried, they make
excellent crispy productssaid to equal those
APPENDIX C 304
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11
This is pretty much the basic process worked out by J.H. Kellogg in his kitchen in
1906. What resulted was the famous Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
12
At the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Bhopal. The machine consists
of a hopper, four "large" rollers (112 mm x 230 mm). a smaller roller (88 mm x 230 mm),
and a gear train to provide the differential speed needed to squeeze out the flakes. The
whole unit is powered by a 2 hp electric motor, and the power required is only 150 W. The
rollers are hollow and made of nylon to reduce weight and noise. The flakes come out as
thin as 0.35 mm.
13
Coetzee and Perold, 1958.
14
Kumate, 1983.
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SUCCESS BREWING IN SOUTH AFRICA*
Mohale Mahanyele's story exemplifies the immense business
opportunities to be found in commercializing the traditional foods made from
African grains.
In the late 1980s South Africa's government set out to privatize the
sorghum-beer industry. For at least 20 years, sales had been dropping, as
workers migrated to the cities and left the rural villages where the low-
alcohol, high-protein drink is embedded in the culture. The government
hired a management consultant, Mohale Mahanyele, to advise it on how to
get rid of the business. His task seemed like a thankless one; the sales
decline seemed inexorable. One analyst said the authorities were merely
unloading "an old Third World product doomed to die."
Mahanyele did not agree. "There were a lot of leaders in the African
community who thought we were being set up to fail," he says. "But I
thought differently. Here was a drink that had always been associated with
our festive occasions, and it had been taken away from us and tainted. It
was humiliating, degrading. I wanted to restore the dignity of sorghum."
Armed with that vision, Mahanyele himself set out to buy the business
from the government-run monopoly in 1990. It seemed like a foolish notion.
He had to raise $20 million to purchase the corporation and its 21 factories,
but he had no access to white capital. So he did something never before
attempted in his country: he sold shares to fellow Africans, building on the
centuries-old custom of stokvels small, informal savings societiesin
traditional communities.
National Sorghum Breweries ended up with 10,000 shareholders, more
than 90 percent of whom are blacka novel arrangement in a country
where few blacks own the roof over their heads. But Mahanyale's problems
were far from over. In addition to the dropping sales, he had to overcome
sorghum beer's political stigma, created during the 80 years when the
white-minority government ran the business. To his own people, "Kaffir
beer,'' as it was known, had become a symbol of white oppression. But
Mahanyele succeeded. Today, National Sorghum Breweries is by far South
Africa's most successful black-owned business. It has nearly doubled its
volume in the past three years, while
* This vignette is adapted from an article by Paul Taylor (The Washington Post, July 21,
1993).
APPENDIX C 305
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paying annual dividends of 20 percent or better. "We understand the
product," he says. "We have a color fit and a culture fit with our customers."
Through the development of the sorghum-brewing business, Mohale
Mahanyele has become South Africa's foremost apostle of black economic
empowerment. The company's board and management team, once all
white, is now nearly all black. Most of its contractors are black, including
500,000 small businessmen who distribute the beer to stores throughout the
country. It employs a quarter of South Africa's black accountants, and is
putting more than 100 of its executives through an MBA program that it runs
on the premises.
Today, National Sorghum Breweries is beginning to diversify into other
products—food, soft drinks, computers and, most daunting of all,
conventional beer, a market in which a giant white-owned brewery currently
has a 98-percent share. Can more success be far behind?
Sorghum beer has a rather thick consistency with a refreshing acid
flavor; the alcohol content is only 3-4 percent by volume, but large amounts
are apt to be consumed on festive occasions. Women have brewed it in
Africa's villages for centuries (see page 168).
No one has ever written a definitive work on African beers and their
nutritional or social roles. This could be a major project for African scholars.
These beers are more important than most people realize. A special quality
is their safety. Because they are highly acidic (ranging between 3 and 4 on
the pH level), they are free of bacterial contamination. So far, however,
science has shied away from investigating such beers. Anthropologists and
nutritionists refer to them, but that is about all. This is surprising because
sorghum beers are an important part of life throughout most of Africa below
the Sahara.
In his executive suite in a suburban office tower in Johannesburg, Mohale Mahanyele merrily
lowers himself on his haunches onto the plush carpet. He is demonstrating the traditional way
to consume sorghum beer. “You gather around circle, and everyone squats,” he says. “Then
you pass around the calabash, and everyone takes drink. If you are standing up it's a sign of
disrespect.” (Louise Gubb, courtesy Washington Post)
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prepared from rice. Noodles from finger millet and other African grains
could probably be economically produced in small-scale industries, as the
equipment needed is not overly complicated and the capital investment is
modest.
LEAVENING LOAVES
Raised bread has become what is perhaps the world's premier food.
Wherever it is introduced people eagerly adopt it and clamor for more.
Unfortunately, however, leavened breads can be made only from wheat or rye,
neither of which grows well in the tropical zone where the neediest people are
concentrated.
15
For at least 30 years scientists worldwide have searched for ways to make
raised bread without using wheat and rye. Such work could have profound
implications for Africa (see box, page 310) but, despite the theoretical promise,
nowhere has there been much practical success so far. Local staples tend to make
unattractive, short-lasting, poor-rising breads that the public shuns. Dough
strengtheners and other modifiers (such as emulsifiers, pentosans, xanthan gum,
and wheat gluten) can be added. They make acceptable breads, but usually they
must be imported and are expensive.
Now, however, there is a possibility of a breakthrough: research has shown
that it is possible to prepare loose-structured bread from local grains using a
swelling and binding agent. Different types have been tested. Dried pregelatinized
cereal or tuber starches have shown some success. Glyceryl monostearate is said
to be effective. Locust bean gum, egg white, and lard are also fairly good. These
compounds act to bind the starch granules together, making it possible for the
dough to hold carbon dioxide gas and thereby to rise. Baked products obtained
this way have greater volume, softer crumb, and a more regular texture.
FAO Bread
Although none of the techniques has yet yielded light, high breads like those
from wheat, there has been partial success. Perhaps the most advanced is a
project operated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
(FAO). The FAO method involves
15
Gluten gives bread its light texture, and this elastic protein is unique to wheat and
rye. When the dough is fermented, gluten's network of protein strands traps carbon dioxide
released by the yeast. As the gas bubbles up, it raises the dough into the light. open texture
of leavened bread. Triticale. a man-made hybrid between wheat and rye. not
unexpectedly, can also produce raised breads. (Triticale is described in a companion
report. Triticale: A Promising Addition to the World's Cereal grains. For a list of BOSTID
publications, see page 377.)
APPENDIX C 308
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boiling part of the flour from a local cereal (or root) until it thickens into a gel
strong enough to hold the gas released during breadmaking. When added to local
flour, yeast, sugar, and salt, this starchy substitute for gluten produces a puffy
bread of acceptable texture, taste, and color.
AVOIDING THE WHEAT TRAP
Researchers in several southern African nations have banded together
to produce a white sorghum that can be locally grown to make flour for
bread and mealies (cornmeal). They seem to be already on the verge of
success. If so, they will have developed the first truly African bread grain.
The following is a recent announcement from PANOS, an international
organization that specializes in disseminating Third World news.
Fifty scientists from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the 10 countries
grouped in the Southern African Development Coordination Conference
(SADCC), are now being trained to breed and produce sorghum hybrids.
Soon, that number of trainees is expected to double. Why all the
excitement?
To help reduce the region's dependence on imported wheat,
researchers in Zimbabwe have developed hybrid strains of sorghum and
millet that are designed for use in making flour and bread. The work at the
Matopos Research Station near Bulawayo forms part of a drive to reduce
food shortages in the SADCC countries.
For most people in the region maize is the staple, but the crop does
not grow well in the drier areas. Researchers are trying to develop
substitutes that can be grown there and mixed with wheat for bread or
maize for mealies. Any surplus could be sold to make high-quality malt.
In farm tests, the new hybrids have produced bigger yields than
existing varieties. The researchers expect to have white-grained hybrid
sorghum for milling very soon. It is hoped that the white sorghum will satisfy a
popular preference for white maize meal. A local milling company is already
working with a nongovernmental organization called Enda-Zimbabwe to set
up pilot mills in rural areas to grind the hybrid grains for bread.
Before people in areas of low rainfall can be persuaded to abandon
their often futile efforts to grow maize, good varieties of the new hybrids
must be available in large quantities of the seed.
APPENDIX C 309
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Reportedly, this new technology is simple, inexpensive, and uses nothing
but local ingredients. It can, for example, produce leavened loaves using
sorghum, millets, and other African grains.
Leavening with Fungus
Recently, food scientists in India have found that fermenting a mixture of
grain and pulse (legume seed) can produce a gum thick enough to act like gluten.
This special process, locally known as idli or dosai fermentation, involves the
microorganisms Leuonostoc mesenteroides, which is used in other parts of the
world for producing dextran gums from sucrose. Using this fermentation, a
mixture of rice and dahl (made with black gram or other legume) can be turned
into a dough that will produce breadlike products without employing any gluten.
Either the legume, the microorganisms, or the combination produces a gum that
holds the carbon dioxide gas, thereby leavening the products. It is a fermentation
that enables raised breads to be
THE WHEAT TRAP
Africa is finding itself more and more caught up in what is being termed
the "wheat trap." During the past 20 or 30 years, certain governments as
well as private companies have responded to consumer demand by
establishing wheat mills. As a result, various countries now spend large
amounts of foreign exchange importing wheat to feed those mills. The bulk
of the flour produced is used to make bread for the working population, as
well as for the small expatriate population living in the towns and cities.
Bread is a convenient food because it is ready to eat, easily carried
around, and not messy like porridges and gruels. Its taste is highly
acceptable, it gives a feeling of bulk and fullness, and it is relatively cheap.
With large numbers of people migrating from rural areas to the cities, the
demand for bread has increased.
However, the population is being fed on food the country does not
grow, with scarce foreign exchange being used to import wheat to produce
flour. More foreign exchange is also spent on spare parts and foreign
managers to maintain and run the flour mills. The process not only
damages the economy but the indigenous African cereals as well. They are
being left in a state of underdevelopment and inadequate processing.
J. Maud Kordylas
APPENDIX C 310
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made without any wheat or rye.
16
Perhaps other fermentations or other substrates
for this fermentation to do this job can also be found.
Biotechnology
With all the advances in biotechnology these days, it seems likely that the
genes that cause gluten to form in wheat will soon be isolated. Inserting them into
the chromosomes of Africa's native grains could bring profound changes.
Suddenly, sorghum or pearl millet would (at least in theory) produce bread that
rises without any extra help. This is not a far-fetched idea. Indeed, it will be
surprising if it does not come about within the next decade or two.
16
Information from N.G. Malleshi and H.S.R. Desikachar.
APPENDIX C 311
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Appendix D
Potential Breakthroughs in Child Nutrition
As in the three previous appendixes, we report here innovations relating only
indirectly to Africa's cereals. Once again, these seem of notable significance to
the continent as well as to the future of the traditional grains. In this case, the
potential breakthroughs are of great humanitarian significanceno less than a
means by which Africa may at last put behind it the horrors and heartbreak of
childhood malnutrition.
1
WEANING FOODS
In most parts of the world, baby foods are commonplace. In North America,
for example, supermarkets may carry whole aisles of liquefied and semisolid
concoctions carefully created from cereals, vegetables, and fruits. Through these
foods, a child gets a diet that is easily digested, rich in energy, and balanced in
protein, vitamins, and minerals. Such foods help the child make the complex and
otherwise life-threatening transition from mother's milk to adult fare.
The tragedy for Africa's millions of malnourished children is that
comparable bridging foods are unavailable to, or at least far beyond, a family's
financial reach. A child in Africa, therefore, faces a cataclysmic change from a
balanced and hygienic liquid diet of mother's milk to an unbalanced solid adult
food that is often very unwholesome. Although the young milk-fed bodies are
basically unprepared for such
1
As before, the coverage is far from exhaustive. In fact it is based on a single report.
This report, a quite technical 400-page document full of data and diagrams, includes
information contributed by several dozen nutritionists and food technologists from all
parts of Africa. In this appendix we can only skim some highlights. The details can be
found in the full report: D. Alnwick, S. Moses, and O.G. Schmidt, eds. 1988. Improving
Young Child Feeding in Eastern and Southern Africa: Household-Level Food
Technology. Report No. IDRC-265e. International Development Research Centre, Ottawa,
Canada.
APPENDIX D 312
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a switch, they must start digesting foods of alien consistency and inferior quality.
Moreover, they often must do this while battling new and numerous intestinal
infections introduced through unclean hands and utensils as well as through
inadequate cooking.
This situation constitutes the gravest emergency facing children today. As
UNICEF's executive director, James P. Grant, has pointed out: "The period of
weaning, during which a young child becomes accustomed to the change from a
diet consisting solely of his or her mother's milk, to one totally devoid of it, may
take a year or more, and in much of the world this is perhaps the most dangerous
period of the child's life. Many will not survive it. Of those that do, too many will
be stunted in body, and perhaps in mind, and never be able to attain the full
promise of their birth."
Today this hazard falls heaviest on Africa's children. Perhaps in the future
centrally processed weaning foods will, as in North America, serve the children's
needs. However, at present the cost of such products and the inability to distribute
them throughout the rural regions makes this impractical. The only answer for the
moment, then, is weaning foods that can be prepared either in the home itself or
at least in nearby locations in the rural districts.
Given the extent of present malnutrition, one could be forgiven for
concluding that household weaning foods are an impossibility for rural Africa
that appropriate ingredients must be unavailable, or that the people cannot make
foods appropriate for children. But a number of knowledgeable nutritionists and
food technologists believe that bridging foods for the critical nutritional years of
each new generation can indeed be produced locally and cheaply. And, in their
view, it is the traditional native grainssorghum and finger millet, in particular
that are the key to this vital and life-saving possibility.
The reason for this is unexpected but understandable.
Those who, in the past, blamed malnutrition exclusively on the lack of
certain nutrients in the foods were largely wrong. The local cereal products are
not as poor in nutrient quality as was (and is) generally claimed. Today's
nutritionists increasingly blame the low quantity of solids (what they call the
"nutrient density") in the foods used for feeding the very young.
Africa's traditional weaning foods are watery gruels based on boiled cereal.
These may have the right consistency for a child whose sole diet has been milk,
but they are just too dilute. A gruel whose consistency is acceptable to a one-
year-old contains merely one-third the food energy of a typical Western weaning
diet. A child simply cannot consume enough to meet its energy and other nutrient
requirements. Even when stuffed with gruel to its limit, a small stomach contains
too little solid to keep its owner fed for very long. And most
APPENDIX D 313
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of the children must get by on only two feedings a day because mothers who
work in the fields have no time to boil batches of gruel throughout the day. The
children therefore get fed only in the morning and evening when the rest of the
family's food is prepared.
A tragic irony is thus becoming apparent. Although the gruels are too thin,
the porridges the mothers are cooking for the rest of the family would be
satisfactory except for one fact: they are too thick to be swallowed by an infant. A
stiff porridge is useless to anyone who cannot eat solids.
What can be done? The answer, the nutritionists now say, is to take a small
part of the adults' thick porridge and change its consistency so any child can
"drink" it. How? By the age-old African methods of malting or fermenting (see
Appendix C). Both procedures break up boiled starch so that it collapses into
smaller saccharides, including sugars, and releases the water that keeps it thick.
For the rest of the world, malting and fermenting are not everyday household
operations, but in Africa they are. Indeed, these two processes are probably better
known at the household level in Africa than anywhere else in the world. Both
techniques require only a minimum of equipment and appear to be good ways to
turn stiff starchy porridges into liquid weaning foods.
2
MALTED FOODS
Given what is currently available in an African village, probably nothing can
compare with malting as a means for carrying rural babies across the nutritional
abyss between mother's milk and adult foods. The previous appendix discussed
malted grains and the potential they offer in and of themselves. Here, however,
we discuss another side of these versatile materials: their use as culinary catalysts
for modifying starchy foodstuffs. This is a process all but unknown to most
people, but it is by far the biggest use of malted grains and is conducted all over
the world. It is, in short, the vital first step in making beer and whisky.
Perhaps because of this association, malting has been saddled with a
somewhat seedy reputation. But it is a simple, safe process that produces no
alcohol and should be more widely used and better known to cooks everywhere.
In Africa, malting has a special promise. Two of the native staplesfinger
millet and certain sorghumsare rich in the malting enzymes (amylases) that
break down complex starches. To liquefy even the
2
Although germination of cereals is mainly associated with the preparation of local
beers, there are a few examples of this procedure being used to prepare local weaning
foods with low dietary bulk.
APPENDIX D 314
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thickest cereal porridges takes only a small quantity of flour from germinated
sorghum or finger millet. When this flour and the porridge are heated slowly, the
amylase enzymes hydrolyze the gel-like starch in the porridge so that it collapses
and can no longer hold water. In this way, sprouted sorghum and finger millet can
turn a pasty porridge semiliquid in minutes.
Moreover, the food not only thins down, it becomes, to a certain extent,
predigested so that it is easier for the body to absorb. In addition, the enzymes
hydrolyze not only the starches but some of the proteins as well. They also reduce
antinutritional and flatus-producing factors, improve the availability of minerals,
and enhance some of the food's vitamin content. Further, the malting process
imparts sweetness and flavor that makes for a tasty end product.
Considering the extent of malnutrition, it is more than ironic that individuals
throughout Africa know more about this process than people anywhere else in the
world. Indeed, throughout sub-Saharan Africa, millions of homes have a crock in
the corner that contains malted grain. A small sample of the contents would
transform thick porridges into baby foods sufficiently liquid for children to
consume and sufficiently nutrient-dense to keep them healthy. Tests have shown
that adding a little germinated cereal while a porridge is being prepared doubles
the amount of food energy and nutrients a child can ingest. However, at present
the malt is used only to make beer, almost never to prepare weaning foods.
Experiences in Tanzania suggest that the concept of liquefying porridges for
baby food is not an impractical dream. In the early 1980s, scientists at the
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre found that small quantities of flour from
germinated sorghum or finger millet could be used to thin the traditional viscous
porridges.
3
They called their product ''Power Flour." When a spoonful was added
during cooking, porridges thick enough to hold up a spoon turned liquid within 10
minutes.
The researchers found that mothers in Tanzania's villages were only too
willing to use Power Flour. Most of the mothers knew how to prepare germinated
cereals for brewing but knew nothing about making foods for their children from
them. However, because the procedure was already so well known, they quickly
adopted it.
4
Although it is ironic (even tragic) that malting is so well known across
Africa, it is also an advantage. Using germinated cereal to improve weaning
foods is simply a variation on an already widespread
3
Mosha and Svanberg, 1983.
4
In fact, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Power Flour (or some barley-based
counterpart) could find a place in kitchens worldwide, including the most sophisticated.
With an aging world population and in some wealthy countries an intense interest in
dieting, liquid diets and highly digestible foods of all kinds are now much in vogue and are
the bases of billion-dollar industries.
APPENDIX D 315
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technologynot a strange foreign food or technique to be imposed by an outside
authority. Local, national, and international efforts to stimulate appreciation of
this could see a new level of weaning foods sweep across Africa with little
outside involvement. The key in many areas may be to educate village
brewmasters to the potential of a second product from their ongoing malting
operations.
Sorghum is the most widely available malting grain in Africa, and it has
been used in most of the nutritional experiments so far. However, finger millet is a
better choice: it has a higher amylase activity; it has no tannins; it develops no
potentially toxic materials on germination;
5
it is rich in calcium and methionine,
both of which are needed for child growth; its malt has a pleasant aroma and
taste; and, finally, it does not mold or deteriorate during germination.
Considering the fact that the technology and raw materials are common in
most village situations, why has this immensely beneficial practice not been more
widely used? For one thing, the process of germinating grain does take some
time; mothers, already weighed down with burdensome work loads, tend to reject
anything that takes up more of their day. However, germinated flour need not be
produced daily. Indeed, small portions can be set aside whenever a fresh batch of
beer is begun. In addition, as in the case of Tanzania's Power Flour, the malt
could be made centrally and sold widely. Unlike the weaning foods themselves,
it is a stable, concentrated material that is used only a pinch at a time.
FERMENTED FOODS
The fermentation of cereals by lactic-acid-producing bacteria has been
discussed in the previous appendix. It, too, appears to be a way to prepare
weaning foods. Like malting, fermentation is a household-level food technology
that reduces the viscosity of stiff porridges (although not as much and not in
minutes). It raises the levels and bioavailability of proteins, vitamins, and
minerals. It enriches the foods through the synthesis of some B vitamins, and it
adds flavor. On top of all that, it helps protect the foods from diarrhea-causing
microorganisms.
As has been noted in Appendix C, lactic fermentation is practiced
throughout the world to make pickles, sauerkraut, soy sauce, sourdough bread,
and other popular foods, but it is especially well known in Africa. From Senegal
to South Africa "sour" porridges are popular.
5
Certain sorghums on sprouting show a marked increase in hydrocyanic acid. This is
worrisome, especially when the product is to be fed to a very small child. However, it
seems probable that the normal cooking of porridges quickly drives off the cyanide.
APPENDIX D 316
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However, although still widely consumed, they are often overlooked as
weaning foods.
But sour porridges seem to fulfill many of the characteristics required, and
they also reduce the risk of pathogenic diarrheaAfrica's leading cause of infant
death. They save time and energy as well, and might be very suitable for use
during the day when a working mother has no time to cook.
A few fermented foods are already employed as weaning preparations. One
example is ogi, a blancmange-like product that is one of Nigeria's most important
foods. Ogi is created by fermenting a slurry of sorghum, millet, or maize. Adults
eat it for breakfast, but some is kept aside and used as a weaning food.
There are possibilities, too, of combining fermentation and malting. Thus,
fermented doughs, such as ogi or ugi (a similar product widely eaten in East
Africa), might be liquefied with Power Flour into forms that weanlings can
"drink." In that way children could ingest more, and the double processing would
likely produce highly digestible foods, easy for any young, old, or sick bodies to
assimilate.
APPENDIX D 317
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Appendix E
After Words
While compiling this book, we were in contact with several hundred
researchers who specialize in the various crops described. Along with their
technical advice, some sent in provocative quotes, valuable for their pith and
perceptiveness. In addition, during the four years that have gone into this book,
we came across a number of equally intriguing quotes in the published literature.
All in all, there were too many to include in the body of the text, so a selection of
them is appended here. Some contradict each other, a reflection of the
contributors' different visions and of the complexity of the issues. Each, however,
contains insights that complement the earlier parts this book, which perforce had
to be focused exclusively on the plants and their promise.
Philosophical Overview
The negative trends in Africa are not solely due to lack of knowledge. We
shall claim too much if we say "give us money, we will do research, and we will
solve the African food problem."
A.H. Bunting
The resources of farmers are not confined, let us remind ourselves, to the
classical factors of land, labor and capital, although by suitable definitions we can
fit all resources into one or other of those omnibus packages. We have to think
also of seed, equipment, knowledge, chemicals, credit and many other things, as
well as of external encouragement, services and support, particularly from the
policy of governments. Development in Africa might well take a different course
if governments were able to be more effective. Many African governments and
government services are inexperienced and some are unstable. Many of them
have great difficulty in forming and executing development plans.
A.H. Bunting
APPENDIX E 318
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Farmers are rightly suspicious of the counsel of anyone who does not
himself have to live by the results.
John Kenneth Galbraith
African farmers are not a bunch of village idiots; far from it. They can
squeeze more out of a hectare than you or I could, and under difficult
circumstances.
Jack Harlan
At least eleven hundred million people do not have enough to eat. Many of
them live in countries that cannot afford to import food and where per capita
domestic food production has declined since 1980. Most of these countries are in
Africa, where the gap between food production and demand is expected to
quadruple by the year 2000.
Inji Islam
What Africa needs is more agricultural research conducted by well-trained
scientists with good support. It should includeat the leastplant breeding,
pathology, agronomy, biotechnology, entomology, and soil science.
Arthur Klatt
The right technologybe it genetic or agronomicwill be put to use. If it
increases yields economically, Africa's farmers will adopt it.
Arthur Klatt
Unless we satisfy the basic needs of four billion poor, life for the rest of use
will be extremely risky and uncomfortable. Struggling farmers . .. threaten
environmental stability, while the growing masses of urban poor are a menace to
political stability.
Klaus Lampe
These "old" plants are neglected mostly because both local and foreign
"experts" are prejudiced against them, but also because of the experts' own
preference for anything that is new!
James M. Lock
The promotion of any indigenous crop must be done within local constraints
of labor availability, gender relations, cultural constructs, and environmental
stress. If local constraints, practices, and beliefs are not realized, promotion of the
crop will not succeed.
Clare Madge
APPENDIX E 319
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Of the two billion persons living in our developing member countries, nearly
two-thirds, or some 1.3 billion, are members of farm families, and of these are
some 900 million whose annual incomes average less that $100 . . . for hundreds
of millions of these subsistence farmers life is neither satisfying nor decent.
Hunger and malnutrition menace their families. Illiteracy forecloses their futures.
Disease and death visit their villages too often, stay too long and return too soon.
The miracle of the Green Revolution may have arrived, but, for the most
part, the poor farmer has not been able to participate in it. He cannot afford to pay
for the irrigation, the pesticide, the fertilizer, or perhaps for the land itself, on
which his title may be vulnerable and his tenancy uncertain.
Robert McNamara
President, World Bank [1973]
The persistence of child malnutrition in Rwanda is attributed largely to a
lack of time and money on the part of the mothers. In the northern parts of the
country, women spend nearly 10 hours in the field and so can prepare the family
food only once or twice each day; this food is usually high in bulk but low in
nutritional value and is, therefore, inadequate for feeding young children.
M. Ramakavelo
One of the problems that makes the task of the prevention of famines and
hunger particularly difficult is the general sense of pessimism and defeatism that
characterizes so much of the discussion on poverty and hunger in the modern
world. While pictures of misery and starvation arouse sympathy and pity across
the world, it is often taken for granted that nothing much can be done to remedy
these desperate situations, at least in the short run.
There is, in fact, little factual basis for such pessimism and no grounds at all
for assuming the immutability of hunger and deprivation. Yet those unreasoned
feelings dominate a good deal of public reaction to misery in the world today. In
fact, pessimism is not new in this field, and has had a major role over the
centuries in dampening hearts and in forestalling preventive public action.
Amartya Sen
Instead of running away from these traditional products, we should be
encouraging their use as quality foods that are as good or maybe even better than
some of the foods people are presently substituting for them.
S. Vogel and M. Graham
APPENDIX E 320
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Cereals in General
There is no doubt that cereals selected and cultivated by man are the basis
for a stationary human culture as in the cities and villages of the world. The
apparent value of the cereals was high convenience in storage and in cooking
quality as well as a pleasant smell and bland taste of the final product combined
with a high level of satiety after consumption.
Lars Munck
One of the possible reasons of the lack of research on native grains is that
many African postgraduates go abroad either to USA or Europe and do their
higher university degrees on wheat or maize. When they return, it is quite natural
for them to continue their studies. (I have seen this happening in the past here in
Australia but this is now changing.) It would be a step in the right direction if
these postgraduates work on the crops of their own country for these degrees. (As a
bonus it might even broaden the thinking of their supervisors.)
Donald F. Beech
There is no doubt that the human body was designed mainly to get calories
from carbohydratesstarches and sugarsand since most starchy foods are
fairly bulky it can be actually quite difficult for children to consume enough
carbohydrates in a day if they come entirely from starchy foods like bread and
potatoes and root vegetables.
John Birkbeck
Some 80-85 percent of the population in many African countries subsists on
farming, and this large segment needs to be helped in improving itself. As
improvements occur in agriculture and as it becomes less marginal and less
subsistence-oriented, opportunities will need to be created for people to move to
other sectors of activity.
Norman E. Borlaug
Although starchy fruits, roots, and tubers will continue to be important in the
diets of African people in many countries and regions, much of the extra food
needed will consist of cereals.
A.H. Bunting
There are many weaknesses in the output delivery systems such as physical
infrastructure, transport, markets, storage, processing, wholesaling and retailing,
and prices. These components determine the extent to which farmers can sell off
the farm, which is the essential nexus in the whole business of agricultural and
rural development.
A.H. Bunting
APPENDIX E 321
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These cereal grains supply man with 60 percent of his energy and 50 percent
of his daily protein requirements . . . the volume of grain required each year to
satisfy man's needs can be calculated to be a highway of grain 2 meters high by
23.5 meters wide, that circles the earth at the equator. Approximately 1000
meters of new highway must be added each year to satisfy population increases.
Vernon D. Burrows
In Africa in the 1970s, the total area under all three cereals [sorghum,
maize, and millet] increased by 8 percent, while mean yield declined by 1.5
percent and the human population increased by 29 percent. Unless this trend can
be reversed, there is real trouble ahead.
Hugh Doggett
Often, a new variety fails to enter the traditional agricultural setup because
no one checked if it will make the preferred foods at an acceptable quality. In
Ethiopia, for example, bread-wheat varieties have been identified, but the farmers
only grow them for cash as they cannot make good bread or grits using the
traditional food-making techniques.
Sue Edwards
An essential feature of African diet is that the staple foodeither maize,
sorghum, millet, rice, cassava or wheaten breadsupplies about 80 percent of the
people's calories, compared with approximately 30 percent eaten by Europeans in
the form of bread. For Africans, the staple food is not merely the main source of
carbohydrates, but also of proteins, minerals and vitamins.
M. Gelfand
Politics is probably the biggest "stumbling block" in Africa. In one country,
they told me that the farmer could double the grain yield of pearl millet with
existing agronomic practices but when the farmer did this, the government cut the
price in half.
Wayne W. Hanna
The colonial literature is full of nonsense about "scarcity foods." They [the
colonials] thought people harvested wild grass seeds because they were hungry
and did not know that these were staples and gourmet foods.
Jack Harlan
A major widespread constraint to increased production that remains in
Africa, in contrast to Southeast Asia, is that of unstable grain
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markets. In consequence, rural families grow sorghum and pearl millet by the
most reliable methods to meet their own needs and produce relatively little
surplus to market. When there is a good year, everyone has a surplus and the
market price falls catastrophically. Very rationally, farmers invest their efforts
into cash crops or some other enterprise where returns are more assured.
R.C. Hoseney, D.J. Andrews, Helen Clark
Since the most ancient of days, the destiny of humanity has been inseparable
from grain. Even today in the age of the microchip processor, humanity's affairs
remain closely linked to the Fates attending cereal grains.
KUSA
African cereal production has two great weaknesses: there are no facilities
for producing top-quality seed and there are no conduits for conditioning, storing
and distributing it. Africa is full of entrepreneurs and there is a tremendous
opportunity for them to start businesses selling quality seed. India started its own
seed-trade that way: entrepreneurs began selling locally produced elite seed to
their neighbors. Gradually, an entire distribution system developed.
A. Bruce Maunder
Nowhere in Africa are grains traditionally grown for "yield per hectare."
Rather, they are grown for basic ingredients of specific foods such as ugali,
injera, couscous, or beer.
J.F. Scheuring and M. Haidara
I suggest that researchers are now avoiding many of these traditional cereals
because they consider it infra dig to use simple breeding and selection
technology. The crops' status suffers from solely because there are no high-tech
(genetic engineering, etc.) papers in the literature.
Gerald E. Wickens
In cereal production, Africa's greatest weakness is that there is little local
storage. At harvest time farmers must sell their grain, regardless of price. Even in
the United States, the drop in grain prices can be startling at harvest time, but
most American farmers have their own storage and any farmer can rent storage,
either locally or near the markets (which may be thousands of miles away). This
allows the farmers the chance to wait and benefit from price rises after the
harvest. It also buffers price swings, which benefits everybody except the
speculators.
APPENDIX E 323
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In Africa, the situation will change when a large demand for sorghum and
millet flour develops. That will create a need for year-round supplies, and storage
capacity will have to be created to provide millers with grain during the off-
season. This will serve to draw off grain stocks during flush seasons while
maintaining grain stocks during periods of shortage. In turn, it will allow farmers
to hold their grain until they're happy with the price. It will also give the farmers
an incentive to use superior seedstock, especially because prices won't fall as
much during good years.
John Yohe
Plant Breeding
New variety types have to complement a farmer's food security strategy.
Farmers in southern Mali have related to me that pearl millet and maize have
expected storage times of three years, sorghum up to seven years, and fonio of
well over seven years.
D.J. Andrews
I am sure that breeding for multiple objectives is essential if we are to attain
our objectives sufficiently rapidly to benefit hundreds of millions of farmers and
consumers by the year 2000.
S.C. Harland transformed Tanguis, the main cotton of Peru, by what he
named the mass pedigree system of selection. By setting standards for six
characters which could be measured on single plants, rejecting plants or small
bulks in which these characters were below the norm or the arithmetic mean, and
by advancing the standards in successive years, he soon produced populations of
improved quality which yielded very much more than before. Starting from
preliminary observations in 1940, the first wave of about 500,000 kg of improved
seed was issued in 1943; and by 1949 yields around I ton of lint per hectare were
being harvested on a field scale by some farmers. In respect of characters other
than those for which they had been selected, the new populations were genetically
heterogeneous and further improvement in them was evidently feasible.
A.H. Bunting
There are still abundant examples of major plant breeding programs which
do not take account of the real constraints faced by many farmers. This is equally
applicable to national and to international programs. The importance of this is
vividly highlighted by the fact that after forty years of breeding on sorghum and
millet at internationally supported research stations in West Africa, less than five
percent of
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the crop is planted to such material. The products simply do not meet most
farmers' needs.
Stephen Carr
There has been a tendency to so under-rate the value of traditional cultivars
that the extension staff ignore them. In so doing they miss the opportunity to
provide a well-worthwhile service to their clients.
Stephen Carr
The germplasm story requires a whiff of skepticism. While the collections
may not have everything (do they ever?), the real problem is to use what we
have. We need more real breeders and fewer people pontificating about
germplasm.
Geoffrey P. Chapman
Time has come when our breeding strategy has to change from the one
where land is tailored to suit the requirements of a high-yielding cultivar, to
where we tailor the cultivars to suit the harsh and ordinarily inhospitable habitats
where the small farmers have to grow their crops.
T.N. Khoshoo
Above all, it is the imagination and ingenuity of the breeder that will be the
decisive element in producing any new cereal crop in the future.
C.N. Law
Much progress has been made in the training of African scientists, such as
by the Title 12, Sorghum-Millet Collaborative Support Research Program,
INTSORMIL. Whereas vehicles and computers have been supplied to their in-
country projects, little or no input has been given to adequate seed storage.
Therefore, the maintenance of lands races, varieties, and breeding lines requires
frequent re-increases; inefficient activity with risks of losing the original genetic
composition.
A. Bruce Maunder
Simple harvesting and processing machines could greatly increase the
effectiveness of seed production, and at minimal cost. Even on research stations
in Africa, it is common to see sorghum and millet being pounded with wooden
clubs. This is just too inefficient: even working night and day, there's no way they
can handle the quantities required.
In fact, many suitable small machines are lying around the developed world,
having been superseded by newer and more sophisticated models.
A. Bruce Maunder
APPENDIX E 325
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Traditional grain varieties have been selected over the centuries to fit the
constellation of agronomic adaptability in diverse environments, and at the same
time have optimum milling, food quality, and storage properties. Most of the
recent improved varieties from breeding programs in Africa yield grain that is
poorly developed, headbug damaged, and chaffy when harvested from stressed
environments. Such grain lends itself to high storage losses, low decortication
yields, poor food quality, and poor seedling vigor. That the farmers don't adopt
those varieties should not be a surprise. Cereal grain yield in Africa is the amount
of nutrient per hectare that finally makes its way to the human stomach as food
and to the animal stomach as feed. It is our challenge to start measuring that.
J.F. Scheuring and M. Haïdara
Everybody wants to help the poorest of the poor. However, when it comes
the reality of applying modern knowledge it is often logistically impossible. To
create a new varietyeven of a well-understood crop like wheatcan easily take
a decade of dedication and perhaps a million dollars of support. It is therefore
clearly impractical to reach, individually, the thousands of different subsistence
regions, each with its likes and dislikes, needs and desires, climates and
conditions.
Noel Vietmeyer
There is a need to strengthen the links between sorghum and millet breeders
and the food scientists, home economists, and other scientists involved in
postproduction systems and the commercialization of sorghum and millet end
products.
S. Vogel and M. Graham
Agronomy
When the aim is to improve a crop, one has also to improve the cropping
system and the management of the fields (in terms of plant population, plant
protection, soil fertility, etc.). The yield of any crop is very often related to the
degree of intensification of the farming system. Therefore if we remain within the
context of a traditional farming system or a slightly improved farming system, the
agronomists and the breeders should not aim at achieving high dry-seeds yield;
rather they should define the adaptive potentialities of the local varieties and try
to utilize these to their maximum.
J.P. Baudoin
Despite the tremendous increases in food production in Asia, the Middle
East, and parts of Latin America in recent years, agriculturalists
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today face even greater production challenges to feed future generations.
New Green Revolutions must occur in the more marginal production areas of
Asia, sub-Sahara Africa, and parts of Latin America. These areas are generally
rain-fed environments that suffer from moisture and temperature stresses, soil
fertility problems, diseases and pests, and other difficult production conditions.
Norman E. Borlaug
For arid and semiarid regions with their variable and unpredictable climate
breeders should select cultivars that can yield moderately well over a wide
climatic spectrum and low agricultural inputs. Maybe the local farmers growing a
mixture of cultivars in a field have the right idea!
Gerald E. Wickens
Sorghum
Sorghum is an excellent example of a low-input grain crop that has
tremendous potential to meet the needs of an increasing demand for lower input,
sustainable solutions to the world's agricultural production problems. Its present
adaptation to marginal production areas and its lack of research input to increase
its response to external inputs guarantees its better fit into any future agricultural
production systems. Its wide, untapped genetic variability found in landraces and
its wild an weedy relatives lend tremendous genetic wealth to increase its
productivity in these more sustainable systems.
Paula J. Bramel-Cox
Far more attention needs to be paid to sorghum as a human food. In
temperate zones the staple grain is wheat, but many of the developing tropical
countries cannot grow wheat, and the strain on their financial resources of
importing this grain on any scale would be great. They must, of necessity, grow
most of their own food grains. Rice is a good grain type in areas where it can be
grown. Maize is a valuable grain, but it shows a narrower range of variation in
grain type than does sorghum, and cannot be grown everywhere. Of the tropical
grains, the one most likely to repay research is sorghum, because it has so much
variation in which to work. It should prove possible to develop sorghum grains of a
better standard than any present-day tropical grains.
Hugh Doggett
Our responsibility is to develop even more stable and higher yielding
[sorghum] cultivars from this wealth of diversity by making the
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appropriate collections from dissimilar climates and recombining them into more
widely adapted improved types useful to the world's people.
Fred R. Miller
The profuse branching and wide distribution of the root system is one of the
main reasons why the sorghums are so markedly drought resistant. Other factors
are however of importance. In the first place the plant above ground grows slowly
until the root system is well established. Secondly, the system has to supply a leaf
area which is approximately half the leaf area of maize. Thirdly, the low
transpiration rate must influence the water demands. Finally, the plant can remain
dormant during a prolonged drought and thereafter recontinue its development.
Hector (1936)
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Appendix F
References and Selected Readings
AFRICAN RICE
Buddenhagen, I.W. and G.J. Persley, eds. 1978. Rice in Africa: Proceedings of a Conference Held at
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, 7-11 March 1977.
Academic Press, New York. 356 pp.
Carney, J.A. 1993. From hands to tutors: African expertise in the South Carolina rice economy.
Agricultural History 67(3): 1-30.
Clayton, W.D. 1968. West African wild rice. Kew Bulletin 21:487-488.
Clement, G. and K. Goli. 1987. Yield capacity of Oyzra glaberrima as an upland crop. L'Agronomie
Tropicale 42(4):275-279.
Fatokun, C.A., A.F. Attere, and H.R. Chheda. 1986. Variation in inflorescence characteristics of
African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.). Beitraefe zür Tropischen Landwirtschaft und
Veterinaermedizin 24(2):153-159.
Ghesquiere, A. 1985. Evolution of Oryza longistaminata. Pp. 15-25 in Rice Genetics. International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños.
Jusu, M.S. and S.S. Monde. 1990. Panicle and grain characters of some glaberrima cultivars in
Sierra Leone. International Rice Research Newsletter 15(3):5-6.
Leung, Woot-tseun, W., F. Busson, and C. Jardin. 1968. Food Composition Table for Use in Africa.
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO). Bethesda, Maryland.
Miezan, K., M.A. Choudhury, A. Ghesquiere, and G. Koffi. 1986. The use of Oryza sativa and Oryza
glaberrima in West African farming systems. Pp. 213-218 in Progress in Upland Rice Research.
Second International Upland Rice Conference, Jakarta, Indonesia, March 4-8, 1985. IRRI,
Manila.
Morishima, H. and H.I. Oka. 1979. Genetic diversity in rice populations of Nigeria: influence of
community structure. Agro-Ecosystems 5:263-269.
Netting, R. McC., D. Cleveland, and F. Stier. 1980. The conditions of agricultural intensification in
the West African Savannah. Pages 187-505 in S.P. Reyna, ed.. Sahelian Social Development.
USAID, Abidjan. (especially the section entitled ''Interior Niger Delta of Mali")
Ogbe, F.M.D. 1993. Lost crops of Nigeria: West African rice. Pp. 71-94 in J.A. Okojie and D.U.U.
Okali, eds., Lost Crops of Nigeria: Implications for Food Security. Conference Proceedings Series
No. 3. University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Ogbe, F.M.D. and J.T. Williams. 1978. Evolution in indigenous West African rice. Economic Botany
32(1):59-64.
Oka, H.I. 1975. Mortality and adaptive mechanisms of Oryza perennis strains. Evolution
30:380-392.
Oka, H.I. 1977. Genetic variations of Oryza glaberrima: their survey and evaluation. Pp. 77-86 in
IRAT [Institut de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales et des cultures vivrières] -ORSTOM
[Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Cooperation de
Montpellier] Meeting on Africa Rice Species. Paris, 25-26 January 1977. IRAT-ORSTOM, Paris.
Oka, H.I. 1988. Origin of cultivated rice. In Developments in Crop Science 14. Japan Scientific
Societies Press. Tokyo Elsevier, Amsterdam. 254 pages.
Pernes, J. 1984. Les riz. In Gestion des Ressources Génétiques des Plantes. Volume 1, Monographies
(212 pp.). Volume 2, Manuel (346 pp.). Technique et documentation. Available from Lavoisier,
11 rue Lavoisier, 75384 Paris cedex 08, France.
Portères, R, 1956, Taxonomie agrobotanique des riz cultivés O. sativa Linné et O. glaberrima
Steudel. Compilations d'articles du JATBA. Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
APPENDIX F 329
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Portères, R. 1956. Journal d'Agriculture Tropical et de Botanique Appliquées 3:341, 541, 627, 821.
Richards, P. 1986. Coping with Hunger: Hazard and Experiment in a West African Rice-Farming,
System. Allen and Unwin, London.
Sano, Y., T. Fujii, S. Iyama, Y. Hirota, and K. Komagata. 1981. Nitrogen fixation bacteria in the
rhizosphere of cultivated and wild rice strains Orzya glaberrima, Oryza perennis, Oryza
punctata. Crop Science 21(5):758-761.
Sano, Y., R. Sano, and H. Morishima. 1984. Neighbor effects between two co-occurring rice species,
Oryza sativa and O. glaberrima. Journal of Applied Ecology. 21:245-254.
Schreurs, W. 1988. Les experiences en riz flottant dur project FENU a Tombouctou. FENU
MLI/83/006, FAO, PNUD MLI/84/009, Tombouctou. (Copies available from author, see
Appendix G.)
Thom, D.J. and J.C. Wells. 1987. Farming systems in the Niger inland delta, Mali. The Geographic
Review 77(3):328-342.
Toure, A.I., M.A. Choudhury, M. Goita, S. Koli, and G.A. Paku. 1982. Grain yield and yield
components of deep-water rice in West Africa. Pp. 103-112 in Proceeding of the 1981
International Deep-water Rice Workshop, Bangkhen, Thailand. IRRI, Laguna. Philippines.
Treca, B. 1987. Bird damage in floating rice in Mali. Journal d'Agriculture Traditionnelle et de
Botanique Appliquées 34:153-170.
Vallee, G. and H.H. Vuong. 1978. Floating rice in Mali. In I.W. Buddenhagen and G.J. Persley, eds.,
Rice in Africa. Academic Press, London.
Yabuno, T. 1981. The transfer of a gene for glutinous endosperm to Oryza glaberrima Steud. from a
japonica variety of Oryza sativa L. Euphytica 30(3):867-873.
FINGER MILLET
Appa Rao, S., L.R. House, and S.C. Gupta. 1989. Review of Sorghum, Pearl Millet, and Finger Millet
Improvement in SADCC [Southern Africa Development Coordination Council] Countries.
SACCAR/International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 170 pp.
Barbeau, W.E. and K.W. Hilu. 1993. Protein, calcium, iron, and amino acid content of selected wild
and domesticated cultivars of finger millet. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 43(2):97-104.
Engels, J.M.M., J.G. Hawkes, and M. Worede, eds. 1991. Plant Genetic Resource of Ethiopia.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 383 pp.
Flack, E.N., W. Quak, and A. von Diest. 1987. A comparison of the rock phosphate mobilizing
capacities of various crop species. Tropical Agriculture (UK) 64(4):347-352.
Gupta, S.C. and J.N. Mushonga. 1994. Registration of 'SDEY 87001' finger millet. Crop Science 34
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Hiremath, S.C. and S.S. Salimath. 1992. The 'A' genome donor of Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.
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summer cereals with special reference to waterlogging and rooting ability. Japanese Journal of
Crop Science 57(2):321-331.
Marathee, J.P. Structure & characteristics of world millet economy. 1993. Pp. 159-178 in K.W.
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APPENDIX F 330
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Seetharam, A., K.W. Riley, and G. Harinarayana, eds. 1989. Small Millets in Global Agriculture:
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(Digitaria exilis), a promising underutilized African cereal. Journal of Agricultural and Food
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http://www.nap.edu/catalog/2305.html
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SORGHUM, COMMERCIAL TYPES
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General
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Engels, J.M.M., J.G. Hawkes, and M. Worede, eds. 1991. Plant Genetics Resources of Ethiopia.
Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. 383 pp.
Huffragel, H.P. 1961. Agriculture in Ethiopia FAO. Rome. 484 pp.
Munck, L. 1988. The importance of botanical research in breeding for nutritional quality
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Kapoor, P.N., S.P. Netke, and L.D. Bajpai. 1987. Kodo (Paspalum scorbiculatum ) as a substitute for
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of nitrogen under dryland conditions. Indian Journal of Agronomy 30(4):509-511.
Ketema, S. 1988. Status of small millets in Ethiopia and Africa. Pp. 6-15 in Small Millets:
Recommendations for a Network. Proceedings of the Small Millets Steering Committee Meeting.
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Nayak, P. and S.K. Sen. 1991. Plant regeneration through somatic embryogenesis from suspension
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Wild Grains
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Elberse, W.T. and H. Breman. 1990. Germination and establishment of Sahelian rangeland species.
II. Effects of water availability. Oecologia 85(1):32-40. (Eragrostis tremula, kram-kram)
Harlan, J.R. 1989. Wild grass seed harvesting in the Sahara and Sub-Sahara of Africa. In D.R. Harris
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Hyman, London.
APPENDIX F 339
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Kumar, A. 1976. Dry matter production and growth rates of three aridzone grasses in culture
(Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Cenchrus biflora and Cenchrus ciliaris) . Comparative Physiology
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(L.) P. Beauv.: A nutritious fodder. Nigeria. Journal of Range Management 35(3):326-331.
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POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS FOR GRAIN FARMERS
(APPENDIX A)
Bruggers, R. L. and C.C.H. Elliott, eds. 1989. Quelea quelea: Africa's Bird Pest. Oxford University
Press, Oxford. UK.
Butler, L.G., G. Ejeta. D. Hess, B. Siama, Y. Weerasuriya. and T. Cai. 1991. Some novel approaches
to the Striga problem. Pp. 500-502 in J.K. Ransom, et al., eds., Proceedings of the Fifth
International Symposium on Parasitic Weeds. Nairobi. Kenya. 24-30 May. 1991. Centro
Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo. Mexico City.
Mundy, P.J. and M.J.F. Jarvis. eds. 1989. Africa's' Feathered Locust. Baobab Books. Harare.
Zimbabwe. 166 pp.
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS IN GRAIN HANDLING
(APPENDIX B)
Shankara, R., N.G. Malleshi, H. Krishnamurthy, M.N. Narayana, and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1985.
Development of mini grain mill for dehusking and grinding of cereals. Journal of Food Science
Technology 22:91.
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS IN CONVENIENCE FOODS
(APPENDIX C)
Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI). 1982. Annual Report. Mysore. Karnataka,
India.
Coetzee, W.H.K. and I.S. Perold. 1958. Pre-cooked and enriched cereal products. South African
Journal to Agricultural Science 1:327-333.
Desikachar, H.S.R. 1977. Processing of sorghum and millets for versatile food uses in India. In D.A.
V. Dendy, ed., Proceedings of a symposium on Sorghum and Millets for Human Food. Vienna,
11-12 May, 1976. Tropical Products Institute. London. 41 pp.
Hoseney, R.C., E.V. Marston and D.A.V. Dendy. 1981. Sorghum and millets. In Y. Pomeranz. ed.,
Advances in Cereal Science and Technology, Vol IV. AACC, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Hulse, J.H.. E.M. Laing, and O.E. Pearson. 1980. Sorghum and millets: Their composition and
nutritive value. IDRC. Ottawa, Academic Press, London.
APPENDIX F 340
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Malleshi, N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1981. Varietal differences in puffing quality of ragi (Eleusine
coracana) Journal of Food Science and Technology 18(1):30-32.
Malleshi, N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1982. Formulation of a weaning food with low hot-paste
viscosity based on malted ragi (Eleusine coracana)and green gram (Phaseolus radiatus). Journal
of Food Science and Technology 19(5): 193-197.
Kumate, J. 1983. Relative Crispness and Oil Absorption Quality of Sandige (Extruded Dough) from
Cereal Grains. M.Sc. Dissertation. University of Mysore. Mysore, India.
Malleshi, N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1986. Influence of malting conditions on quality of finger
millet malt. Journal of the Institute of Brewing 92(1):81-83.
Malleshi. N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1986. Studies on comparative malting characteristics of some
tropical cereals and millets. Journal of the Institute of Brewing 92(1):174-176.
Malleshi, N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1986. Nutritive value of malted millet flours. Plant Food for
Human Nutrition 36(3): 191-196.
Perten, H. 1983. Practical experience in processing and use of millet and sorghum in Senegal and
Sudan. Cereal Foods World 28:680-683.
Young. R., M. Haidara. L.W. Rooney. and R.D. Waniska. 1990. Parboiled sorghum: development of a
novel decorticated product. Journal of Cereal Science 11:277-289. (Appendix C is based largely
on this paper.)
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS IN CHILD NUTRITION
(APPENDIX D)
Bang-Olsen, K.. B. Stilling, and L. Munck. 1987. Breeding for high-lysine barley. Barley Genetics
5:865-870.
Bang-Olsen, K., B. Stilling, and L. Munck. 1991. The feasibility of high-lysine barley breeding: a
summary. Barley Genetics 6:433-438.
Evans, D.J. and J.R.N. Taylor. 1990. Extraction and assay of proteolytic activities in sorghum malt.
Journal of the Institute of Brewing 96(4):201-207.
Horn, C.H.. J.C. Du Preez. and S.G. Kilian. 1992. Fermentation of grain sorghum starch by co-
cultivation of Schwanniomyces occidentalis and Saccharomyeces cerevisiae. Bioresource
Technology 42(1):27-31.
Kumar, L.S., H.S. Prakash, and H.S. Shetty. 1991. Influence of seed mycoflora and harvesting
conditions on milling, popping, and malting qualities of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Journal of
the Science of Food and Agriculture 55:617-625.
Kumar, L.S., M.A. Daodu. H.S. Shetty. and N.G. Malleshi. 1992. Seed mycoflora and mailing
characteristics of some sorghum cultivars. Journal of Cereal Science 15:203-209.
Malleshi, N.G. and H.S.R. Desikachar. 1982. Formulation of a weaning food with low hot-paste
viscosity based on malted ragi (Eleusine coracana) and green gram (Phaseolus radliatus).
Journal of Food Science and Technology 19(5):193-197.
Malleshi, N.G., M.A. Daodu, and A. Chandrasekhar. 1989. Development of weaning food
formulations based on malting and roller drying of sorghum and cowpea. International Journal of
Food Science and Technology 24:511-519.
Malleshi, N.G., H.S.R. Desikachar, and S. Venkat Rao. 1986. Protein quality evaluation of a weaning
food based on malted ragi and green gram. Plant Food for Human Nutrition 36(3):223-230.
Munck, L. 1988. The importance of botanical research in breeding for nutritional quality
characteristics in cereals. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 28(3):69-78.
Venkatnarayana, S., V. Screenivasmurthy, and B.A. Satyanarayana. 1979. Use of ragi in brewing.
Journal of Food Science Technology 16:204.
Venkat Rao, S., S. Kurien, D.N. Swamy, V.A. Daniel, I.A.S. Murthy, N.G. Malleshi. and H.S.R.
Desikachar. 1985. Clinical trials on a weaning food of low bulk based on ragi and green gram.
Paper presented at the International Workshop on Weaning Foods. Iringa, Tanzania.
APPENDIX F 341
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Appendix G
Research Contacts
AFRICAN RICE
African Countries
M. Agyen-Sampong, Mangrove Swamp Rice Research Station, West Africa Rice Development
Association (WARDA), Private Mail Bag 678, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Joseph Amara, Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Freetown,
Sierra Leone
A. Franck Y. Attere, Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Forson K. Ayensu, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Crops Research Institute, Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR), PO Box 7, Bunso, Ghana
Jacob A. Ayuk-Takem, Institut de la Recherche Agronomique (IRA), Boîte Postal 2123, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
Robert Cudjoe Aziawor, Grains Development Board, PO Box 343, Hohoe, Volta Region, Ghana
Osman Bah, Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Freetown, Sierra
Leone
J. Bozza, Institut de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales et des cultures vivriéres (IRAT), Boîte
Postal 635, Bouaké, Côte d'lvoire
Dana Burner, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Oyo Road, Private Mail Bag
5320, Ibadan, Nigeria (striga-germination promoters)
Saliou Diangar, Agronome/Programme Mil, Centre National de Recherches Agronomiques (CNRA),
Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA), Boîte Postal 53, Bambey, Senegal
Sahr N. Fomba, Mangrove Swamp Rice Research Station, WARDA, Private Mail Bag 678,
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Kofi Goli, Institut des Savannes (IDESSA), Boîte Postal 633, Bouake, Côte d'lvoire
Malcolm Jusu, Rokupr Rice Research Station, Private Mail Bag 736, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Serrie Kamara, Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Freetown,
Sierra Leone
Gueye Mamadou, West African Microbiological Research Centre (MIRCEN), CNRA, Boîte Postal
53, Bambey, Senegal
Kouamé Miezan, WARDA/ADRAO, Boîte Postal 2551, Bouake 01, Côte d'lvoire
Sama Monde, Rokupr Rice Research Station, Private Mail Bag 736, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Helen Moss, 63 End Road, Linden Extension 2194, Randburg, South Africa
Folu M. Dania Ogbe, Department of Botany, University of Benin, Private Mail Bag 1154, Ugbowo
Campus, Benin-City, Benin State, Nigeria
Rice Breeding Program, IITA, Oyo Road, Private Mail Bag 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
APPENDIX G 342
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B. Treca, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération, Office
de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer(ORSTOM), Boîte Postal 2528, Bamako,
Mali
Patrice Vandenberghe, Appui au Développement de la Riziculture dans les Régions de Gao et de
Tombouctou (A.R.G.T.), Boîte Postal 120, Bamako, Mali
West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), 01 Boîte Postal 2551, Bouaké, Côte d'lvoire
WARDA, Abidjan Liaison Office, 01 Boîte Postal 4029, Abidjan 01, Côte d'lvoire
WARDA, Monrovia Liaison Office, LBDI Building, Tubman Boulevard, Box 1019, Monrovia,
Liberia
Sahel Irrigated Rice Research Station, WARDA, Boîte Postal 96, St. Louis, Côte d'Ivoire
Other Countries
J.P. Baudoin, Phytotechnie des Régions Chaudes, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux,
2, Passage des Déportés, B-5800 Gembloux, Belgium
Gilles Bezançon, Laboratoire Ressources Génétiques et Amélioration des Plantes Tropicales
(LRGAPT), Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération
de Montpellier, ORSTOM, Boîte Postal 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
Lynne Brydon, Department of Sociology, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX,
England
H.M. Burkill, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB. England (botany)
Matilde Causse, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération
de Montpellier, ORSTOM, Boîte Postal 5045. 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
G. Clement, Centre français du riz, Mas du Sonnailler, 13200 Arles, France
F. Cordesse, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Developpement en Coopération,
Centre d'Etudes Phytosociologiques L. Emberger (CEPE), Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS), ORSTOM, 1919 Route de Mende. Boîte Postal 5051, 34033
Montpellier-Cédex, France
Jeremy Davis, Plant Breeding International, PBI Cambridge Ltd., Maris Lane, Trumpington,
Cambridge CB2 2LQ, England (forages)
M. Delseny, Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale, U.A. 565, CNRS. Université de Perpignan, Avenue
de Villeneuve, 66025 Perpignan-Cédex, France
Joseph DeVries, Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry, Emerson Hall, Room 255, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York 14851, USA
John Dudley, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service (ARS). U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Building 006 Room 118 BARC-West, Beltsville, Maryland
20705-2350, USA (biotechnology)
N.H. Fisher, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Louisiana 70803,
USA (striga-germination promoters)
Alain Ghesquiere, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération
de Montpellier, ORSTOM, Boîte Postal 5045. 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
J.R. Harlan, 1016 North Hagan Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119, USA Dale D. Harpstead,
Department of Crop & Soil Sciences, Room 464, Plant and Soil Science Building, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1325, USA
Frank Nigel Hepper, The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond. Surrey, London TW9
3AE, England
David Hilling, Centre for Developing Areas Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway
and Bedford New College, University of London. Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX,
England
Institut de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales et des cultures vivrières (IRAT). Avenue du Val de
Montferrand, Boîte Postal 5035, 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
APPENDIX G 343
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Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération de Montpellier.
ORSTOM, Boîte Postal 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI, formerly IBPGR), Via delle Sette Chiese 142,
00145 Rome, Italy
M. Jacquot, Département du Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour
le Développement (CIRAD). IRAT. Boîte Postal 5035. 34032 Montpellier Cedex. France
Peter B. Kaufman, Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109-1048. USA
Clarissa T. Kimber, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University. College Station, Texas
77843-3147, USA
A. de Kochko, Department of Biology, Washington University. One Brookings Drive, Box 1137, St
Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
J.M. Lock. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Richmond. Surrey, London TW9 3AE. England
O.M. Lolo, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération,
CEPE, CNRS, ORSTOM, 1919 Route de Mende. Boîte Postal 5051, 34033 Montpellier Cedex,
France
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Via delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome
00100. Italy
Shegeta Masayoshi, The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University. 46 Shimoadachi-cho,
Yoshida, Sakyo-ku. Kyoto 606, Japan
Hiroko Morishima, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, 411, Japan
Nobuo Murata, Eco-Physiology Research Division, Tropical Agriculture Research Center (TARC).
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 1-2. Ohwashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305. Japan
H.-I. Oka, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, 411, Japan
Jean-Louis Pham, Laboratoire de Biologie et Genetique Evolutives. Universite Paris-Sud (UPS),
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS), Gif sur Yvette, France
Paul Richards, Department of Anthropology. University College London, Gower Street, London WC
IE 6BT, England
J. Neil Rutger, Jamie Whitter Delta States Research Center, ARS, USDA, PO Box 225, Stoneville,
Mississippi 38776. USA (rice hybridization)
Gideon W. Schaeffer, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, ARS, USDA, Building 006 Room 118
BARC-West, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA (biotechnology)
Gérard Second, CEPE, CNRS, ORSTOM, 1919 Route de Mende, Boîte Postal 5051, 34033
Montpellier Cedex, France
Francis T. Sharpe, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory. ARS, USDA, Building 006 Room 118
BARC-West, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA (biotechnology)
Steven D. Tanksley, Department of Plant Biology, 237 Plant Science Building, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Dat Van Tran, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome
00100, Italy
G.E. Wickens, 50 Uxbridge Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex TW12 3AD, England
FINGER MILLET
African Countries
A. Franck Y. Attere, Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Jacob A. Ayuk-Takem. IRA, Boîte Postal 2123, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Stephen J. Carr, Christian Services Committee of Malawi, Private Bag 5, Zomba, Malawi
APPENDIX G 344
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Abebe Demissie, Plant Germplasm Exploration & Collection, Plant Genetic Resources Centre/
Ethiopia (PGRC/E), PO Box 30726, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
S.C. Gupta, Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program, Southern Africa Development
Coordination Council (SADCC), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT), PO Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Thomas V. Jacobs, Department of Botany, University of Transkei, Post Bag X I, Unitra, Umtata,
Transkei, South Africa
Hilda Kigutha, Department of Home Economics, Egerton University, PO Box 536, Njoro, Kenya
J. Maud Kordylas, Arkloyd's Food Laboratory (A.F.L.), Boîte Postal 427, Douala, Cameroon
K. Anand Kumar, Pearl Millet Program, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey,
Niger (INTSORMIL [International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Program]
collaborator)
I.M. Mharapara, Research and Specialist Services, Chiredzi Research Station, PO Box 97, Chiredzi,
Zimbabwe
Sam Z. Mukuru, East Africa Regional Cereals and Legumes Centre (EARCAL), ICRISAT, PO Box
39036, Nairobi, Kenya (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Davidson K. Mwangi, Amaranth Seeds & Food Research & Development, Amaranth and Natural
Foods, PO Box 376, Nanyuki, Central Province, Kenya
Figuhr Muza, Department of Research and Specialist Services, Private Bag 8100, Causeway, Harare,
Zimbabwe
S.C. Nana-Sinkam, Joint ECA/FAO Agriculture Division, United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa, PO Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nlandu ne Nsaku, Direction des Services Géneraux Techniques, Institut de Recherche Agronomique
et Zootechnique (IRAZ), Boîte Postal 91, Gitega, Burundi
J.C. Obiefuna, Department of Crop Production, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Private
Mail Bag 1526, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
Gregory Saxon, Caixa Postal 1152, Beira, Sofala, Mozambique (seeds and services)
Southern Africa Development Coordination Council (SADCC), Regional Sorghum and Millets
Improvement Program, ICRISAT, PO Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Tharcisse Seminega, Department de Biologie, Universite Nationale du Rwanda, Boîte Postal 117,
Butare, Rwanda (biotechnology and food industry)
A. Shakoor, The Dryland Farming Research and Development Project, Kenyan Ministry of
Agriculture, FAO, PO Box 340, Katumani, Machakos, Kenya
P.S. Steyn, Division of Food Science and Technology, National Food Research Institute, CSIR, PO
Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
J.H. Williams, Pearl Millet Improvement Program, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404,
Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Other Countries
David J. Andrews, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
(breeding)
S.C. Bal, Department of Soils and Agricultural Chemistry, Orissa University of Agriculture and
Technology, Bhubaneswar 751 003, Orissa, India
K.V. Bondale, Millet Development Program, Ministry of Agriculture, 27 Eldams Road, Madras 600
018, India
Wayne Carlson, Maskal Forages, Inc., PO Box A, Caldwell, Idaho 83606, USA
William Critchley, Centre for Development Cooperation Services, Free University Amsterdam, van
der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johannes M.M. Engels, Regional Office for South and Southeast Asia, IPGRI (IPBGR), c/o Pusa
Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India
Charles A. Francis, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska
68583, USA
Zewdie Wolde Gebriel, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO
Box 8129, Wageningen 6700 EV, Netherlands
APPENDIX G 345
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David Gibbon, School of Development Studies, Overseas Development Group, University of East
Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, England
Heiner E. Goldbach, Abta Agrarökologie, Lehrstuhl Biogeographie, Institut für Geowissenschaften
der Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, D-8580 Bayreuth, Germany
Le Dit Bokary Guindo, Special Program for African Agricultural Research, The World Bank, 1818 H
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Khidir W. Hilu, Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA (molecular genetics)
S.C. Hiremath, Faculty of Science and Technology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India
Leland R. House, Route 2 Box 136 A-1, Bakersville, North Carolina 28705, USA
R. Kulandaivelu, Agricultural Research Station, Bhavanisagar, Tamil Nadu, India
N.G. Malleshi, Cereal Science and Technology, Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Cheluvamba Mansion, V.V. Mohalla PO, Mysore 570013, India (processing, weaning foods)
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via
delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
Shegeta Masayoshi, The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho,
Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan
Alemu Mengistu, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive,
Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
G.N. Mitra, Department of Soils and Agricultural Chemistry, Orissa University of Agriculture and
Technology, Bhubaneswar 751 003, Orissa, India
Robert L. Myers, Alternative Crops and Products Project, Department of Agronomy, 210 Waters
Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
R.C. Parida, Department of Soils and Agricultural Chemistry, Orissa University of Agriculture and
Technology, Bhubaneswar 751 003, Orissa, India
Daniel H. Putnam, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis,
California 95616, USA
A. Appa Rao, Genetic Resources Unit, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India
(germplasm)
Raman Rai, Department of Microbiology, Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology,
Narendranagar, Kumarganj, Faizabad 224 229, Uttar Pradesh, India (nitrogen fixation)
K.W. Riley, National Hill Crops Improvement Program, International Development Research Centre
(IDRC), PO Box 1336, Kathmandu, Nepal
A. Seetharam, All India Coordinated Small Millets Improvement Project, G.K.V.K. Campus,
University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore 560 065, India
K.V. Selvaraj, Agricultural Research Station, Bhavanisagar, Tamil Nadu, India
Y.M. Somasekhara, G.K.V.K. Campus, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore 560 065, India
K. Vanangamudi, Agricultural Research Station, Bhavanisagar, Tamil Nadu, India
K.P.R. Vittal, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), Santoshnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
C.E. West, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8129,
Wageningen 6700 EV, Netherlands
John Yohe, International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL
CRSP), 54 Nebraska Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
Vincent Makumba Zake, c/o Department of Agronomy, Mississippi State University, Mississippi
State, Mississippi 39762, USA (breeding)
FONIO (ACHA)
Although fonio has been overlooked by most researchers, two special groups in Senegal have for
some years been championing this crop's cause.
APPENDIX G 346
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One, a program called ''Fonio for the World," has been growing and distributing fonio seeds for
research and development work. For information on availability of samples and terms under
which they are supplied, write to Babacar N'Diaye, Conseiller Agricole chargé du Programme
"Fonio pour le monde," Conseil Général de Diam-Diam, Koungheul, Senegal. The other
program, concentrating on laboratory studies, is L'Institut des Sciences de l'Environnement of
the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Boîte Postal 5005, Dakar-Fann, Senegal.
African Countries
Daniel K. Abbiw, Herbarium, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Ghana,
Legon, Ghana
Diarra Aboubacak, Division Etude et Contrôle phytosanitaire, Service de la Protection des Végétaux,
Boîte Postal 1560, Bamako, Mali
Samuel Agboire, National Cereals Research Institute, Private Mail Bag 8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria
J.O. Akingbala, Department of Food Technology, University of Agriculture, Private Mail Bag 2240,
Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Association Malienne pour la Promotion des Jeunes, c/o Ministère de la Jeunesse et du Sport,
Bamako, Mali
Forson K. Ayensu, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Crops Research Institute, CSIR, PO Box 7, Bunso,
Ghana
Robert Cudjoe Aziawor, Grains Development Board, PO Box 343, Hohoe, Volta Region, Ghana
S.O. Bennett-Lartey, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Crops Research Institute, CSIR, PO Box 7,
Bunso, Ghana
Carl W. Castleton, International Section, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), U.S.
Department of Agriculture, American Embassy -Abidjan, Boîte Postal 1712, Abidjan 01, Côte
d'lvoire
Saliou Diangar, Agronome/Programme Mil, CNRA, ISRA, Boîte Postal 53, Bambey, Senegal
Sahr N. Fomba, Mangrove Swamp Rice Research Station, WARDA, Private Mail Bag 678,
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Ephraim O. Lucas, Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Jon Kirby, Tamale Institute of Cross Cultural Studies, PO Box 42, Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana
Danladi Musa, Elwa Rural Development, Ltd., PO Box 63, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
S.C. Nana-Sinkam, Joint ECA/FAO Agriculture Division, United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa, PO Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Amadou Makhtar Ndiaye, Organisme de Recherches sur I'Alimentation et la Nutrition Africaines
(ORANA), 39 avenue Pasteur, Boîte Postal 2089, Dakar, Senegal
Nyat Quat Ng, Genetic Resources Unit, IITA, Oyo Road, Private Mail Bag 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
Emmanuel Ndu Onyedeke, Community Development, P.M.B.I. Mgbidi, Oru LGA, Imo State, Nigeria
O.B. Oyewole, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, P.M.B.
2240, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Z.J.L. Sanago, Division de Recherches sur les Systèmes de Production Rurale, Institut d'Economie
Rurale, Sikasso, Mali
V.J. Temple, Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
Mouhamadou Lamine Thiam, Biologie Végétale, Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Faculté Sciences et
Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Boîte Postal 5005, Dakar-Fann, Senegal
APPENDIX G 347
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Jane Toll, IPGRI (IBPGR), c/o ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey, Niger
Jeanne Zoundjihekpon, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Nationale de Côte d'lvoire, 22
Boîte Postal 582, Abidjan 22, Côte d'lvoire
Other Countries
Kathleen M. Baker, Department of Geography, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
University, Thornaugh Street, Russell Square, London WCIH OXG, England
Robert Becker, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California 94710, USA
Donald F. Beech, Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO), Mill Road, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4067, Queensland, Australia
H.M. Burkill, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England (botany)
Geoffrey P. Chapman, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Near Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH,
England
James Duke, ARS, USDA, Room 133, Building 001, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA
P. Gosseye, Department of Agrosystems Research, Centrum voor Agrobiologisch Onderzoek, Centre
for Agrobiological Research (CABO), Bornsesteeg 65, PO Box 14, Wageningen 6700 AA,
Netherlands
Niels Hanssens, Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Project, Hadejia Zone IV, Private
Mail Bag 3130, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria, c/o Agroman, 34 New Cavendish Street, London
WIM 7LH, England
Nazmul Haq, International Centre for UnderUtilized Crops, Andrews Building, Kings College
London, Campden Hill Road, L18 7AH, England
G. Harinarayana, All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project, India Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), College of Agriculture Campus, Shivajinagar, Pune 411 005,
India
J.R. Harlan, 1016 North Hagan Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119, USA
Frank Nigel Hepper, The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, London TW9
3AE, England
Israel Afam Jideani, School of Science & Science Education, Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University,
Private Mail Bag 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria
International Centre for UnderUtilized Crops, Andrews Building, Kings College London, Campden
Hill Road, L18 7AH, England
Andrew Kidd, International Council for the Development of Underutilized Crops, Building 44, The
University of Southhampton, Southampton SO9 5NH, England
Pius Michael Kyesmu, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH, England
Clare Madge, School of Geography, The University of Birmingham, PO Box 363, Egbaston,
Birmingham B15 2TT, West Midlands, England
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via
delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
Shegeta Masayoshi, The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho,
Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan
Robert L. Myers, Alternative Crops and Products Project, Department of Agronomy, 210 Waters
Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
Don Osborn, 4632 South Hagadorn Road #C-33, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, USA
Daniel H. Putnam, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis,
California 95616, USA
Paul Richards, Department of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC I
E 6BT, England
Barrie Sharpe, Department of Food Science, Kings College (Kensington Campus), University of
London, London W8 7AH, England
B. Simpson, c/o Department of Resource Development, 323 Natural Resources Building, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
APPENDIX G 348
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Margaret Steentoft, 7 The Purrocks, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 2HU, England
E. Wagner, Crop and Grassland Production Service, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO,
Via delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
PEARL MILLET
African Countries
Adam Aboubacar, Cereal Chemistry, Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger
(INRAN), Boîte Postal 429, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Abdelmoneim Taha Ahmed, Economics and Statistical Section, Gezira Agricultural Research
Station, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), PO Box 126, Wad Medani, Sudan
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
O.C. Aworh, Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
Nigeria
Sitt El Nafr Badi, Food Research Centre, Shambat Box 213, North Khartoum, Sudan (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Tareke Berhe, SAA - Global 2000, Kotoka International Airport, Post Office Private Mail Bag,
Accra, Ghana (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Jacques Beyo, IRA, Boîte Postale 33, Maroua, Cameroon
Taye Bezuneh, STRC-SAFGRAD, Organization of African Unity (OAU), Boîte Postal 1783,
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Ouendeba Botorou, PARA - Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger (INRAN), Boîte
Postal 429, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Stephen J. Carr, Christian Services Committee of Malawi, Private Bag 5, Zomba, Malawi
H.S. Chambo, Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) - Hombolo, PO Box 299, Dodoma, Tanzania
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Yacouba O. Doumbia, DRA/SRCVO - Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Sotuba Research Station,
Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Amadou Fofana, CNRA, ISRA, Boîte Postal 53, Bambey, Senegal (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Walter Frölich, Sorghum and Millet Section, Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment Station (NAES),
Crops Research Institute (CRI), PO Box 483, Tamale, Ghana
Lucas Gakale, Department of Agricultural Research, Private Bag 0033, Gaborone, Botswana
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
S.C. Gupta, Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO Box 776,
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
M. Haidara, Institut Economie Rurale (IER), Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Dale Hess, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Thomas V. Jacobs, Department of Botany, University of Transkei, Post Bag XI, Unitra, Umtata,
Transkei, South Africa
Hilda Kigutha, Department of Home Economics, Egerton University, PO Box 536, Njoro, Kenya
J. Maud Kordylas, Arkloyd's Food Laboratory (A.F.L.), Boîte Postal 427, Douala, Cameroon
Joyce Lowe, Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Fernando A.B. Marcelino, Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (IIA), Caixa Postal 406, Huambo,
Angola
Demba M'Baye, CNRA, ISRA, Boîte Postal 53, Bambey, Senegal (INTSORMIL collaborator)
I.M. Mharapara, Research and Specialist Services, Chiredzi Research Station, PO Box 97, Chiredzi,
Zimbabwe
APPENDIX G 349
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Figuhr Muza, Department of Research and Specialist Services, Private Bag 8100, Causeway, Harare,
Zimbabwe (breeding; INTSORMIL collaborator)
Oumar Niangado, Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO Box 776, Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe
A. Shakoor, The Dryland Farming Research and Development Project, Kenyan Ministry of
Agriculture, FAO, PO Box 340, Katumani, Machakos, Kenya
P. Soman, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey, Niger
P.S. Steyn, Division of Food Science and Technology, National Food Research Institute, CSIR, PO
Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Jens von Bargen, Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment Station (NAES), Crops Research Institute
(CRI), PO Box 483, Tamale, Ghana
G.K. Weber, IITA, Private Mail Bag 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
J.H. Williams, Pearl Millet Improvement Program, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404,
Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Ousmane Youm, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Other Countries
David J. Andrews, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
(breeding: INTSORMIL collaborator)
John Axtell, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
(breeding; striga; INTSORMIL collaborator)
Glenn W. Burton, Forage and Turf Research, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, ARS,
USDA, PO Box 748, Tifton, Georgia 31793, USA
Jeremy Davis, Plant Breeding International, PBI Cambridge Ltd., Maris Lane, Trumpington,
Cambridge CB2 2LQ, England (forages)
Charles A. Francis, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska
68583, USA
Donald Fryrear, Big Spring Experiment Station, ARS, USDA, Box 909, Big Spring, Texas 79721,
USA
Zewdie Wolde Gebriel, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO
Box 8129, Wageningen 6700 EV, Netherlands
P. Geervani, College of Home Science, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Rajendranagar,
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500 030, India
S.C. Geiger, College of Agriculture, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
Le Dit Bokary Guindo, Special Program for African Agricultural Research, The World Bank, 1818 H
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Wayne W. Hanna, Department of Agronomy, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, ARS,
USDA, PO Box 748, Tifton, Georgia 31793, USA
Tom Hash, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India (INTSORMIL collaborator)
G. M. Hill, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Department of Animal
Science, University of Georgia, PO Box 748, Tifton, Georgia 31793, USA
R.C. Hoseney, Department of Agronomy, Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan,
Kansas 66506, USA
Leland R. House, Route 2 Box 136 A-1, Bakersville, North Carolina 28705, USA
Catherine Howarth, Department of Environmental Biology, Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Institute
for Grassland and Environmental Research, University College of Wales, PO Box 2, Old
College, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, Wales (modern millets)
Carl S. Hoveland, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia 30602, USA
R.L. Jensen, Department of Poultry Science, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
APPENDIX G 350
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P. Kishore, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India
K. Anand Kumar, Pearl Millet Program, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey,
Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
James D. Maguire, Department of Agronomy and Soils, Washington State University, 201 Johnson
Hall, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
V. Mahalakshmi, Cereal Program, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT), Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India
N.G. Malleshi, Cereal Science and Technology, Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Cheluvamba Mansion, V.V. Mohalla PO, Mysore 570 013, India (processing, weaning foods)
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via
delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
Shegeta Masayoshi, The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho,
Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan
Paul L. Mask, 110 Extension Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5633, USA
A.N. Misra, Department of Botany, Utkal University, PO Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar 751 004, Orissa,
India
N.A. Mnzava, The Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, PO Box 42, Shanhua,
Tainan, Taiwan 74199, Republic of China
Kenneth O. Rachie, 5434 Dynasty Drive, Pensacola, Florida 32504, USA
T.F. Rajewski, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
A. Appa Rao, Genetic Resources Unit, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India
(germplasm)
K.C. Reddy, Agency for International Development (AID) - Niamey, U.S. Department of State,
Washington, DC 20523, USA
Shao Qiquan, Genetic Transformation Laboratory & Genetic Resources of Plants, Academia Sinica
Institute of Genetics, De-Sheng-Men-Wai, Bei-Sha-Tan Building 917, Beijing 100012, China
R.L. Smith, Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
Robert J. Theodoratus, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins,
Colorado 80523, USA (beer)
J.H. Topps, Division of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agriculture, University
of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB2 4AQ, Scotland
S. Tostain, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Developpement en Coopération de
Montpellier, Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM), Boîte
Postal 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cédex, France
Rick J. Van Den Beldt, Forestry/Fuelwood Research and Development (F/FRED) Project, Winrock
International Institute for Agricultural Development, Network Secretariat, PO Box 1038,
Kasetsart Post Office, Bangkok 10903, Thailand
Paresh Verma, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Agronomy, 205 KCRL,
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
K.P.R. Vittal, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), Santoshnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
C.E. West, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8129,
Wageningen 6700 EV, Netherlands
John Yohe, International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL
CRSP), 54 Nebraska Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
SORGHUM
African Countries
Rashad A. Abo-Elenien, Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
APPENDIX G 351
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Adam Aboubacar, Cereal Chemistry, Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger
(INRAN), Boîte Postal 429, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Moussa Adamou, Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger (INRAN), Boîte Postal
429, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
A. Adeyinka Adesiyun, Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Samara, Zaria,
Nigeria
Samuel Agboire, National Cereals Research Institute, Private Mail Bag 8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria
Abdelmoneim Taha Ahmed, Economics and Statistical Section, Gezira Agricultural Research
Station, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), PO Box 126, Wad Medani, Sudan
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Olupomi Ajayi, West African Sorghum Improvement Program (WASIP), ICRISAT, Private Mail Bag
3491, Kano, Nigeria
O.C. Aworh, Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
Nigeria
Abdeljabar T. Babikher, Gezira Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Corporation
(ARC), Box 126, Wad Medani, Sudan (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Minbamba Bagayoko, Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
M.A. Benhura, Department of Biochemistry, University of Zimbabwe, PO Box MP 176, Mount
Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe (brewing)
Tareke Berhe, SAA - Global 2000, Kotoka International Airport, Post Office Private Mail Bag,
Accra, Ghana (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Taye Bezuneh, STRC-SAFGRAD, Organization of African Unity (OAU), Boîte Postal 1783,
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (INTSORMIL collaborator)
T.S. Brand, Elsenburg Agricultural Centre, Elsenburg, Cape Province, South Africa Stephen J. Carr,
Christian Services Committee of Malawi, Private Bag 5, Zomba, Malawi
J. Chantereau, CIRAD, West African Sorghum Improvement Program (WASIP), ICRISAT, Boîte
Postal 320, Bamako, Mali
Edmund Chintu, Sorghum Research Office, Chitedze Research Station, PO Box 158, Lilongwe,
Malawi (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Medson Chisi, Mutanda Research Station, Box 110312, Solwezi, Zambia (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Sidi Bekaye Coulibaly, SRCVO - Institute Economic Rurale (IER), PO Box 438, Bamako, Mali
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Sansan Da, Tropical Station Farako - BA, IRA, Boîte Postal 910, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Alfredo A.F. Da Cunha, Breeding Research, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 527, Luanda, Angola
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Abera Debelo, Ethiopian Sorghum Improvement Program, Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR),
PO Box 103, Nazreth, Ethiopia (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Siriba Dione, Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Mamourou Diourte, Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Sotuba, Boîte Postal 438, Bamako, Mali
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
M.A. Daodu, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Private Mail Bag 21023, Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria (weaning foods)
Yacouba O. Doumbia, DRA/SRCVO - Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Sotuba Research Station,
Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Hamy El-Assuity, Department of Sugar Cane, Sorghum, Maize and Forage Crops, Agricultural
Research Center, Giza, Egypt (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Ahmad Abu El Gassim, National Seed Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 285,
Khartoum, Sudan (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Osman O. El-Nagouly, National Sorghum Program, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Osman Ibrahim El Obeid, Gezira Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Corporation
(ARC), Box 126, Wad Medani, Sudan (INTSORMIL collaborator)
APPENDIX G 352
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Haroun El-Shafey, Department of Sugar Cane, Sorghum, Maize and Forage Crops, Agricultural
Research Center, Giza, Egypt (INTSORMIL collaborator)
J. Peter Esele, Sorghum and Millet Unit, Uganda Agriculture and Forestry Research, PO Soroti,
Serere, Uganda (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Saeed Farah, Gezira Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Box
126, Wad Medani, Sudan (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Lucas Gakale, Department of Agricultural Research, Private Bag 0033, Gaborone, Botswana
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Marcel Galiba, SAA - Global 2000, Kotoka International Airport, Post Office Private Mail Bag,
Accra, Ghana (INTSORMIL collaborator)
M. Haidara, Institut Economie Rurale (IER), Boîte Postal 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Dale Hess, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
C.H. Horn, University of the Orange Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, Orange Free State,
South Africa (fermentation)
Ben M. Kanyenji, National Dryland Farming Research Station Katumani, PO Box 340, Machakos,
Kenya (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Helen Kasalu, Misamfu Regional Research Station, PO Box 410055, Kasama, Zambia (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Yilma Kebede, Pioneer Hybrid Seed Co., Private Bag BW 6237, Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Issoufou Kollo, Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger (INRAN), Boîte Postal 249,
Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Mohale Mahanyele, National Sorghum Breweries Limited, PO Box 785067, Sandton 2146, South
Africa (brewing; malting)
Charles Maliro, Sorghum Research Office, Chitedze Research Station, PO Box 158, Lilongwe,
Malawi (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Anaclet Mansuetus, Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) - Ilonga, PO Box Ilonga, Ilosa, Tanzania
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Chris Manthe, Department of Agricultural Research, Private Bag 0033, Gaborone, Botswana
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Louis Mazhani, Department Agricultural Research, Private Bag 0033, Gaborone, Botswana
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
C. Mburu, Western Agricultural Research Station, Kakamega, Kenya (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Emmanuel Monyo, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Lewis Mughogho, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Sam Z. Mukuru, RCAL, ICRISAT, PO Box 39063, Nairobi, Kenya (INTSORMIL collaborator)
D.S. Murty, West African Sorghum Improvement Program (WASIP), ICRISAT, Private Mail Bag
3491, Kano, Nigeria
Joseph N. Mushonga, Department of Research and Specialist Services, Crop Breeding Institute,
Private Bag 8100, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe (breeding; INTSORMIL collaborator)
Mouhoussine Nacro, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Ougadougou
University, 01 PO Box 1955, Ougadougou 01, Burkina Faso (sorghum dyes and tanning)
Nlandu ne Nsaku, Direction des Services Généraux Techniques, IRAZ, Boîte Postal 91, Gitega,
Burundi
Tunde Obilana, Sorghum and Millet Program, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
El Hilu Omer, Gezira Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Box
126, Wad Medani, Sudan (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Caleb O. Othieno, Tea Research Foundation of Kenya, PO Box 820, Kericho, Kenya
Moussa Oumarou, Soil Laboratory, Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques au Niger
(INRAN), Boîte Postal 429, Niamey, Niger (INTSORMIL collaborator)
APPENDIX G 353
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Regional Sorghum and Millets Improvement Program, SADCC, ICRISAT, PO Box 776, Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe
J.K. Rutto, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, PO Box 57811, Nairobi, Kenya (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Peter Setimela, Department of Agricultural Research, PO Box 0033, Sebel, Botswana (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
P.S. Steyn, Division of Food Science and Technology, National Food Research Institute, CSIR, PO
Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
John R.N. Taylor, c/o Department of Food Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South
Africa (brewing)
Pamela Thole, Zambia Seed Company, PO Box 35441, Lusaka, Zambia (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Abdoul Toure, DAR - Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Aboubacar Toure, Institute Economic Rurale (IER), Box 258, Bamako, Mali (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Moussa Traore, Ministere du Development Rural, Rue Mohamed V, Boîte Postal 61, Bamako, Mali
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Gilles Trouche, CNRA, ISRA, Boîte Postal 53, Bambey, Senegal (breeding; INTSORMIL
collaborator)
H.A. Van de Venter, Faculty of Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa (heat-
shock sorghums)
Bhola Nath Verma, Mt. Makulu Research Station, Boîte Postal 7, Chilanga, Zambia (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
W.G. Wenzel, Grain Crops Research Institute, Private Bag X1251, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa
J.H. Williams, Pearl Millet Improvement Program, ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Boîte Postal 12404,
Niamey, Niger
V.M. Zake, Sorghum and Millet Unit, Uganda Agriculture and Forestry Research, PO Soroti, Serere,
Uganda (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Other Countries
Irvin C. Anderson, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA (sweet
sorghums)
David J. Andrews, Department of Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
(breeding: INTSORMIL collaborator)
John Axtell, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
(breeding; striga; INTSORMIL collaborator)
Sitt El Nafr Badi, Food Research Centre, Shambat Box 213, North Khartoum, Sudan (INTSORMIL
collaborator)
Robert H. Baumann, Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
70808, USA (sweet sorghums)
Dorothea Bedigian, Department of Biology, Washington University, Campus Box 1137, St. Louis,
Missouri 63130, USA (ethnography)
Alessandro Bozzini, Ente Nazionale Energia Atomica, Viale Regina Margherita N.125, 00198,
Rome, Italy (fuel, energy sorghums)
Paula Bramel-Cox, Crop, Soil, and Range Sciences, Department of Agronomy, Throckmorton Hall,
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506-5501, USA (genetics and breeding;
perennial sorghums)
Larry Butler, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
(striga)
David L. Carter, Soil and Water Management Research, ARS, USDA, Snake River Conservation
Research Center, Route 1, Box 186, Kimberly, Idaho 83341, USA (soil reclamation)
Max D. Clegg, Department of Agronomy, Crop, Range, Soil, and Weed Sciences, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA (sweet and fuel sorghums)
APPENDIX G 354
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Elizabeth Colson, University of California at Berkeley (retired), 840 Arlington Boulevard, El Cerrito,
California 94530, USA (ethnography)
Jeff Dahlberg, Sorghum Research Program, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
Gene Dalton, Sorghum Research Program, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., 6800 Pioneer
Parkway, PO Box 316, Johnston, Iowa 50131, USA
Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, CSIRO, Mill Road, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4067,
Australia (sweet sorghums)
Ronny R. Duncan, Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia, Georgia Experiment Station,
Griffin, Georgia 30223-1797, USA (editor of annual sorghum-research newsletter)
B.O. Eggum, Statens Husdyrbrugsfors g (National Institute of Animal Science), Postboks 39, 8830
Tjele, Denmark
Frank Einhellig, Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota
57069, USA (sorghum for controlling weeds)
Gebisa Ejeta, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Lindolfo Fernández, Las Playitas Experiment Station, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR),
Comayagua, Honduras
R.A. Frederiksen, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College
Station, Texas 77843, USA
Gas Research Institute, 8600 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60631, USA (sweet sweet-
stalk sorghums for energy, and crop support)
Earl W. Gleaves, Department of Animal Science, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
Francisco Gomez, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Apartado Postal 93, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Patricio Gutierrez, Department of Agronomy, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Apartado Postal 93,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras (INTSORMIL collaborator)
J.R. Harlan, 1016 North Hagan Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119, USA
F.J. Hills, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis, California
95616, USA (sweet sorghums)
Leland R. House, Route 2 Box 136 A-1, Bakersville, North Carolina 28705, USA
Catherine Howarth, Department of Environmental Biology, Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Institute
for Grassland and Environmental Research, University College of Wales, PO Box 2, Old
College, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, Wales, United Kingdom (heat-shock sorghum)
Kaiser Engineers, Inc., 1800 Harrison Street, PO Box 23210, Oakland, California 94623, USA (sweet
sorghums)
Robert Kalton, Research Seeds, Inc., Answer Farm, Rural Route 2, Webster City, Iowa 50595, USA
Issoufou Kapran, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Clarissa T. Kimber, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
77843-3147, USA
Arthur Klatt, Division of Agriculture, 139 Agricultural Hall, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,
Oklahoma 74078-0500, USA
Steve Kresovich, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit, ARS, USDA, Griffin, Georgia
30223-1797, USA (sweet, fuel sorghums)
Gerald R. Leather, Foreign Disease - Weed Science Research, ARS, USDA, Fort Detrick, Building
1301, Frederick, Maryland 21701, USA (allelopathy and sorghum for controlling weeds)
R.T. Lewellen, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis,
California 95616, USA (sweet sorghums)
David G. Lynn, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
(striga)
N.G. Malleshi, Cereal Science and Technology, Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Cheluvamba Mansion, V.V. Mohalla PO, Mysore 570013, India (processing, weaning foods)
APPENDIX G 355
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Paul L. Mask, 110 Extension Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5633, USA (sweet-
stalk sorghums)
A. Bruce Maunder, Sorghum and Tropical Maize Research, DeKalb Genetics Corporation, Route 2
Box 56, Lubbock, Texas 79415, USA
Dan H. Meckenstock, Programa Internacional de Sorgo y Mijo (INTSORMIL), Escuela Agrícola
Panamericana, Apartado Postal 93, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Humberto Mejia, Raul Valle Experiment Station, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Olancho,
Honduras (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Fred R. Miller, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station,
Texas 77843 (breeding and crop support)
Kenneth J. Moore, Wheat, Sorghum, and Forage Research Unit, ARS, USDA, 344 Keim Hall,
University of Nebraska East Campus, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA (utility sorghums)
Charles F. Murphy, Grain Crops, Plant Sciences, National Program Staff, Agricultural Research
Service (ARS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Building 005, BARC-West,
Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA
George R. Newkome, Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
70808, USA (sweet sorghums; fuel sorghums)
M.H. Nguyen, Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond, N.S.W. 2753, Australia (sweet
sorghums)
Evelyn Oviedo, La Lujosa Experiment Station, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Choluteca,
Honduras (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Alejandro Palma, Department of Agronomy, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Apartado Postal 93,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Gary Peterson, Texas A&M Agricultural Experiment Station, Lubbock, Texas 79401, USA
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Hector Portillo, Department of Agronomy, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Apartado Postal 93,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Martin L. Price, Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), 17430 Durrance Road,
North Fort Myers, Florida 33917, USA (fuel and specialty sorghums)
Alan Putnam, Department of Agronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824,
USA (sorghum for controlling weeds)
Kenneth O. Rachie, 5434 Dynasty Drive, Pensacola, Florida 32504, USA
A.K. Rajvanshi, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, PO Box 23, Phaltan-Lonand Road, Phaltan
415 523, Satara District, Maharashtra, India (sweet sorghums; alcohol fuels)
K.V. Ramaiah, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India
Korivi Eswara Prasada Rao, Genetic Resources Program, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh
502 324, India
James Rasmussen, Mount Marty College, 1105 West 8
th
, Yankton, South Dakota 57078, USA
(sorghum for controlling weeds)
James L. Riopel, Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 29428, USA
(striga)
Charles W. Robbins, Soil and Water Management Research, ARS, USDA, 3793 North 3600 East,
Kimberly, Idaho 83341, USA (sorghum/sudangrass hybrids; sodic soils)
Lloyd W. Rooney, Cereal Quality Lab, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA (food science)
Darrell Rosenow, Texas A&M Agricultural Experiment Station, Research and Extension Center,
Lubbock, Texas 79401, USA (INTSORMIL collaborator)
Edgar Salguero, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícolas (ICTA), Jutiapa, Guatemala
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
Manuel Santos, Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (CENTA), San Andres, El Salvador
(INTSORMIL collaborator)
R.E. Schaffert, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Milho e Sorgo (CNPMS), Empresa Brasileira de
Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), Caixa Postal 151, Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais 35700,
Brazil (breeding; sweet sorghums)
I.O. Skoyen, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis,
California 95616, USA (sweet sorghums)
Bluebell R. Standal, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Tropical
APPENDIX G 356
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Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii, 3190 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822,
USA (nutrition: specialty sorghums)
Keith Steinkraus, Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14456, USA
(fermented foods)
J.W. Stenhouse, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India (INTSORMIL
collaborator, breeding)
Robert J. Theodoratus, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins,
Colorado 80523, USA (beer)
K.P.R. Vittal, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), Santoshnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Fred M. Wrighton, Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
70808, USA (sweet sorghums)
John Yohe, International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL
CRSP), 54 Nebraska Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
J.R. Zanini, Departamento de Agricultura, Universidade Estadual Paulista ''Júlio de Mesquita
Filho" (UNESP), Ilha Solteira, São Paulo, Brazil (sweet sorghums)
TEF
African Countries
Endashaw Bekele, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 3434, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Abebe Demissie, Plant Germplasm Exploration & Collection, PGRC/E, PO Box 30726, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Susan Burnell Edwards, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 3434, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, c/o The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, PO Box
3434, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Kifle Gozeguze, Regional Soil and Water Conservation Department, c/o Ministry of Agriculture, PO
Box 62347, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tantigegn Kerede Kassa, Zonal Team in Soil Conservation, Bahrder, Ethiopia
Abebe Kirub, Information Services, Institute of Agricultural Research, PO Box 2003, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Helmut Kreiensiek, Agriculture and Soil Conservation, German AgroAction -FSAP, PO Box 6,
Maseru 100, Lesotho
Mahmoud Ahmed Mahmoud, Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), PO Box
474, Khartoum, Sudan
Dejene Makonnen, Alemaya University of Agriculture, PO Box 138, Alemaya, Ethiopia
P.C.J. Maree, Department of Agronomy and Pastures, University of Stellenbosch, Victoria Street,
Stellenbosch 7600, Cape Province, South Africa
Mateos Megiso, Soil Conservation Department, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 62347, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Gebru Teka Mehereta, Natural Resources Department, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 62347, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Solomon Mengistu, International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), PO Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya
Getachew Beyene Misker, Community Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 62347,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Helen Moss, 63 End Road, Linden Extension 2194, Randburg, South Africa
P.O. Osuji, International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
(forage)
Norman F.G. Rethman, Department of Plant Production, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South
Africa
APPENDIX G 357
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Adebacho Watchiso, Community Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 62347,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
J.J.P. Van Wyk, Research Institute for Reclamation Ecology, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa (soil
reclamation)
Other Countries
Donald F. Beech, Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, CSIRO, Mill Road, St. Lucia, Brisbane
4067, Queensland, Australia
K.V. Bondale, Millet Development Program, Ministry of Agriculture, 27 Eldams Road, Madras 600
018, India
Wayne Carlson, Maskal Forages, Inc., PO Box A, Caldwell, Idaho 83606, USA
Geoffrey P. Chapman, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Near Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH,
England
M. Cheverton, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH, England
R.H. Ellis, Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 2AH,
England
Johannes M.M. Engels, Regional Office for South and Southeast Asia, IPGRI (IBPGR), c/o Pusa
Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India
Don F. Gaff, Department of Ecology and E.B., Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton,
Victoria 3168, Australia
Heiner E. Goldbach, Abta Agrarökologie, Lehrstuhl Biogeographie, Institut für Geowissenschaften
der Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, D-8580 Bayreuth, Germany
Pamela M. Goode, Environmental Resources Unit, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, England
Le Dit Bokary Guindo, Special Program for African Agricultural Research, The World Bank, 1818 H
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
David Hilling, Centre for Developing Areas Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway
and Bedford New College, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX,
England
B.M. Glyn Jones, Biology Department, Huntersdale New College, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX,
England
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via
delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
Melak H. Mengesha, Genetic Resources Unit, ICRISAT, Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324,
India
Frederick G. Meyer, c/o Herbarium, U.S. National Arboretum, 3501 New York Avenue, NE,
Washington, DC 20002, USA
Redwood City Seed Company, PO Box 361, Redwood City, California 94064, USA
Michael Stocking, Soils and Land Use Development Studies, Overseas Development Group,
University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, England
D. Theodoropoulos, J.L. Hudson, Seedsman, PO Box 1058, Redwood City, California 94064, USA
H.D. Tindall, 8 Church Avenue, Ampthill, Bedford MK45 2PN, England
J.H. Topps, Division of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agriculture, University
of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB2 4AQ, Scotland
E.K. Twidwell, South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota State University, College
Station, Brookings, South Dakota 57007, USA (forage)
C.E. West, Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8129,
Wageningen 6700 EV, Netherlands
Josien M.C. Westphal-Stevels, Department of Plant Taxonomy, Wageningen Agricultural University,
Gen. Foulkesweg 37, PO Box 8010, Wageningen 6700 ED, Netherlands
Erica F. Wheeler, Centre for Human Nutrition, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, 2 Taviton Street, London WCIH 0BT, England
M. Zewdie, Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 2AH,
England
APPENDIX G 358
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CULTIVATED AND WILD GRAINS
African Countries
Samuel Agboire, National Cereals Research Institute, Private Mail Bag 8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria
Abebe Demissie, Plant Germplasm Exploration & Collection, PGRC/E, PO Box 30726, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia (emmer, barley)
Susan Burnell Edwards, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 3434, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Seyfu Ketema, Tef Improvement Programme, Holetta Research Station, Institute of Agricultural
Research (IAR), PO Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
H. Gebre Mariam, Institute of Agricultural Research, PO Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Bede Okigbo, Institute for Natural Resources, United Nations University (UNU), c/o United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), PO Box 1423, Accra, Ghana
Other Countries
Bernard R. Baum, Central Experimental Farm, Centre for Land & Biological Resources Research,
Ottawa KIA 0C6, Ontario, Canada (Ethiopian oats)
K.V. Bondale, Millet Development Program, Ministry of Agriculture, 27 Eldams Road, Madras 600
018, India (kodo millet)
Geoffrey P. Chapman, Wye College, University of London, Wye, Near Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH,
England (buffel grass; wild grains)
A.B. Damania, Genetic Resources Unit, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas (ICARDA), PO Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria (emmer)
Frances Cook, Economic and Conservation Section (ECOS), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England (botany)
Johannes M.M. Engels, Regional Office for South and Southeast Asia, IPGRI (IBPGR), c/o Pusa
Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India (barley)
Jeffrey Gritzner, Public Policy Research Institute, Department of Geography, University of Montana,
Missoula, Montana 59812-1018, USA
S. Hakim, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria (emmer)
Wayne W. Hanna, Department of Agronomy, Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station, ARS,
USDA, PO Box 748, Tifton, Georgia 31793, USA
J.R. Harlan, 1016 North Hagan Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119, USA (wild grains, barley)
David B. Harper, Food and Agricultural Chemistry Department, The Queen's University of Belfast,
Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, United Kingdom (wild grains)
Arthur Klatt, Division of Agriculture, 139 Agricultural Hall, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,
Oklahoma 74078-0500, USA
J.P. Marathee, Crop and Grasslands Services, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO, Via
delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy
M.Y. Moualla, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria (emmer)
John Compton Tothill, Division of Tropical Crops and Forages, CSIRO, 306 Carmody Road, St.
Lucia 4069, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (taxonomy)
John Yohe, International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL
CRSP), 54 Nebraska Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583, USA
APPENDIX G 359
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Appendix H
Note on Nutritional Charts
In the earlier chapters we have included tables of nutritional information, as
well as charts that show how this information compares with that of a standard
cereal such as maize or rice. They appear on the following pages.
Crop Page
African rice 27
finger millet 44, 45
fonio 64
pearl millet 86, 87
sorghum 134, 135
tef 222, 223
kram-kram 263
shama millet 268
Egyptian grass 269
wadi rice
270
These tables and charts should be taken only as rough indications of the lost
crop's merits, not the definitive word. Some species in this book are so neglected
that their nutritional components have been reported merely once or twice. It is
thus probable that the figures we have used are not representative of average
samples, let alone especially nutritious forms. Moreover, natural variation can
occur in the nutritional content of grain from any particular species as a result of
nongenetic factors such as climate and the availability of nutrients in the soil. It
could be, therefore, that even better types will be discovered and developed.
The bar graphs provide what we think is a simple, but visually powerful,
representation of the relative nutritional merits of two foods. With them
nutritional figures between two foods (or between a food and a recommended
daily allowance) can be compared almost instantly. This technique, in which the
relative merits can be seen at a glance,
APPENDIX H 360
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was devised specifically for this project, but comparable approaches could be
employed equally well in Africa.*
The maize and rice values against which the African grains are compared in
the bar graphs are taken from U.S. Department of Agriculture tables. The actual
figures (converted to a dry-weight basis) are given below.
Component Maize Rice
Food energy (Kc) 408 406
Protein (g) 10.5 8.1
Carbohydrate (g) 83 90
Fat (g) 5.3 0.7
Fiber (g) 3.2 0.3
Ash (g) 1.3 0.7
Thiamin (mg) 0.43 0.08
Riboflavin (mg) 0.22 0.06
Niacin (mg) 4.1 1.8
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.58 0.02
Folate (µg) 0.0 9.1
Pantothenic acid (mg) 0.47 1.15
Calcium (mg) 8 32
Copper (mg) 0.35 0.25
Iron (mg) 3.0 0.9
Magnesium (mg) 142 130
Manganese (mg) 0.55 1.1
Phosphorus (mg) 234 130
Potassium (mg) 320 130
Sodium (mg) 39 6
Zinc (mg)
2.5 1.2
In each of the essential-amino-acid bar graphs, the figures were compared on
the basis of the amounts occurring in the protein of each grain (that is, grams per
100 grams of protein). In the other bar graphs, all nutrients were compared on a
dry-weight basis so as to eliminate the distortions of different (and varying)
amounts of moisture. Digestibility and other metabolic factors were not factored
into the calculations. For vitamin A, the values for Retinol Equivalents were
derived using standard formulas to convert literature figures given for
carotenoids, ß-carotene, or International Units.
* The bar graphs were plotted electronically, so their resolution exceeds the standard
error of the data (which is at minimum 10 percent). Duplicate data were discarded, and
ranges were treated as separate values.
APPENDIX H 361
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Amino Acid Maize Rice
Cystine 1.8 2.0
Isoleucine 3.6 4.3
Leucine 12.3 8.3
Lysine 2.8 3.6
Methionine 2.1 2.4
Phenylalanine 4.9 5.3
Threonine 3.8 3.6
Tryptophan 0.7 1.2
Tyrosine 4.1 3.3
Valine 5.1 6.1
Total
41.1 38.1
Grams per 100 g protein.
In most of the charts in the chapters we have compared the native grains in
their whole-grain form with whole-grain rice and maize. A more realistic
comparison might have been against polished rice and maize meal (in which the
germ has been removed). This is the form in which rice and maize are normally
consumed, whereas the native grainspearl millet, fonio, finger millet, tef, and
(in most cases at least) sorghumare eaten as whole grains. Comparing nutritive
values for the forms in which each is actually eaten creates an even more graphic
picture of the nutritional superiority of the native grains.
APPENDIX H 362
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Appendix I
Lost Crops of Africa Series
This is the first in a series of books highlighting the promise to be found in
food plants native to Africa. The second and third volumes in the series are now
being prepared for publication, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth are in the planning
stage. Following are lists of the plants now being considered.
Volume 2: Cultivated Fruits
Balanites (Desert Date) Balanites aegyptiaca
Baobab Adansonia digitata
Butterfruit (Africado) Dacryodes edulis
Carissa Carissa spp., esp. C. macrocarpa
Horned Melon Cucumis metuliferus
Kei Apple Dovyalis caffra
Marula Sclerocryo caffra
Melon Cucumis melo
Tamarind Tamcarindus indica
Watermelon Citrullus lanatus
Ziziphus
Ziziphus mauritiana
Volume 3: Wild Fruits
African Medlars Vangueria madagascariensis
Aizen Boscia spp.
Chocolate Berries Vitex spp.
Custard Apples Annona senegalensis
Figs Ficus spp.
Gemsbok Cucumber Acanthosicyos naudinianus
Gingerbread Plums Parinari spp.
Grapes Vitis spp.
Icacina (False Yam) Icacina oliviformis
Imbe (African Mangosteen) Garcinia livingstonei
Milkwoods
Mimusops spp.
APPENDIX I 363
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Monkey Apple Anisophyllea laurina
Monkey Orange Strychnos spp.
Nara Acanthosicyos horrida
Raisin Trees Grewia spp.
Rubber Fruits Landolphia spp.
Sour Plum Ximenia spp.
Star Apples Chrysophyllum spp.
Sugar Plums Uapaca spp.
Sweet Detar Detarium senegalense
Tree Grapes Lannea spp.
Tree Strawberry Nauclea spp.
Velvet Tamarind Dialium guineense
Water Berry Syzygium guineense
Wild Plum
Pappea capensis
Volume 4: Vegetables
African Eggplant Solanum macrocarpon
Amaranths Amaranthus spp.
Bitterleaf Vernonia amygdalina
Bitter Melon Momordica spp.
Baobab Adansonia digitata
Bologi Crassocephalum biafrae
Bungu Ceratotheca sesamoides
Bur Gherkin Cucumis spp.
Celosia Celosia spp.
Cleome Cleome gynandra
Crotalaria Crotalaria spp.
Dayflowers Commelina spp.
Edible Flowers Various species
Edible Mushrooms Various species
Edible Trees Various species
Egusi-ito Cucumeropsis mannii
Enset Ensete ventricosum
Ethiopian Mustard Brassica carinata
Fluted Pumpkin Telfairia occidentalis
Garden Cress Lepidium spp.
Gherkins Cucumis spp.
Horned Melon (Kiwano) Cucumis metuliferus
Jilo Solanum gilo
Mock Tomato Solanum aethiopicum
Okra Abelmoschus esculentus
Ogunmo
Solanum melanocerasum
APPENDIX I 364
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Oyster Nut Telfairia pedata
Spirulina Spirulina spp.
Water Leaf
Talinum spp.
Volume 5: Legumes
Bambara Groundnut Vigna subterranea
Cowpea Vigna unguiculata
Grass Pea Lathyrus spp.
Guar Cyamopsis tetragonoloba
Groundbean Macrotyloma geocarpa
Lablab Lablab purpureus
Locust Beans Parkia spp.
Marama Bean Bauhinia esculenta
Pigeon Pea Cajanus cajan
Sword Bean Canavalia spp.
Velvet Tamarind
Dialium spp.
Volume 6: Roots and Tubers
African Yam Bean Sphenostylis spp.
Anchote Coccinia spp.
Guinea Yam Dioscorea x cayenensis
Potato Yam Dioscorea esculenta
Other Yams Dioscorea spp.
Hausa Potato Solenostemon rotundifolius
Sudan Potato Solenostemon parviflorus
Livingstone Potato Plectranthus esclentus
Wing bean Roots Psophocarpus spp.
Tiger Nut (Chufa) Cyperus esculentus
Vigna Roots
Vigna spp., especially V. vexillata
We hope that this set of reports will alert everyone to the wealth of foods
that are Africa's own heritage. We also hope to continue the series with volumes
on nuts, oilseeds, spices, beverage plants, and others. Collectively, the resulting
wealth of knowledge and guidance might well lead to a "second front" in the war
on hunger in what is now the most hunger-ravaged part of the world.
APPENDIX I 365
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We would very much like to hear from readers who would like to contribute
to these future volumes. Send your name and the crop in which you're interested
to:
Noel D. Vietmeyer, FO 2060
National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20418, USA
Fax: (202) 334-2660
Email: nvietmey@nas.edu
Above all, we'd like to appeal for photographs. Locating pictures for this
book on grains has been a monumental headache; finding interesting shots for the
future volumes will likely be even harder.
APPENDIX I 366
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Index Of Foods
afezu 261
African rice 17
akohi 83
arake 43
areuie 245
aromatic sorghums 181
baby food (see also weaning foods) 141
baked goods 297
baked products 308
barley 243
barley-water drinks (see also beverages) 245
beer 49, 53, 64, 81, 130, 141, 148, 168,
245, 249, 258, 299, 305
sorghum 168, 305
betso 25
beverages 43, 119, 146, 245
sweet beverages 262
bhunja 83
biscuits 148, 221
bogobe 300
bourgou 266
bread 43, 81, 83, 119, 141, 148, 215, 221,
239, 240, 243, 245, 297, 308, 309, 310
raised bread 308
sorghum 189
sourdough 300, 316
steamed 189
breakfast cereals 130
brown sugar 118, 298
buza 25
cakes 148, 221, 237
casseroles 221
chapati 83, 141
convenience foods 174, 297
cookies 221
couscous 13, 64, 81
dahl 310
dawa 148, 155
dosai 310
dough balls 148
drinn 260
Egyptian grass 267
einkorn 240
emmer 239
Ethiopian oats 248
extruding 304
famine food 271, 272
fast food (see also convenience foods) 73
fermented food 81, 310, 316
porridges 300
finger millet 298, 39
popped 298
flaking 302
flour 52, 141, 237, 244, 262, 285, 287, 310
sorghum 162
Power Flour 315
preprocessed 303
fonio 59, 298
fritters 237
gallettes 81
genfo 240
grass, Egyptian 267
gruel 6, 221, 313
guinea millet 237
high lysine sorghums 181
idli 310
infant foods (see also weaning foods) 53
injera 11, 215, 218, 219, 221, 222, 224,
226, 249
jagger, 118, 178, 298
Kashi 256
kimchee 300
kisra 81
kita 221, 239
kodo millet 249
koko 100
kram-kram 262
kreb 256
lahi 83
liqueur 267
liquors 245
malt 43, 48, 53, 141
malt extract 299
malted food 314
malted milk 299
malting 299
mao-tai 188
marsa 100
meal, sorghum 162
milk, mother's 312
millets
finger
39, 298
guinea 237
kodo 249
pearl 77, 298
shama 267
mother's milk 312
muffins 221
muk 221
nasha 300
noodles 189
oats, Ethiopian 248
obusera 300
ogi 81, 317
Ovaltine
®
299
pancakes 221, 221,
parboiled products
117, 162, 175, 301
pastries 297
pearl millet 77, 298
popping 118
sweet-stalk 125
phula 83
pickled vegetables 300
pickles 316
pilaf 302
INDEX OF FOODS 367
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pombe 148
popped products 43, 141
popping 63, 297
finger millet 298
pearl millet 118
sorghum 178, 298
porridge 6, 13, 43, 49, 81, 83, 100, 119,
146, 189, 221, 239, 240, 245, 261, 262,
314
fermented 300
sour 316
sour millet 300
sour sorghum 300
Power Flour 315
preprocessed flours 303
puddings 221
puffing 298
quality-protein sorghums 181
quick-cooking sorghums 180
raised bread 308
roti 81
samshu 188
sauerkraut 300, 316
semolina 64
shama millet 267
snacks 130
sorghum 127
aromatic 181
beer 168, 305, 189
flour 162
high-lysine 181
meal 162
molasses 186
popped 178, 298
quality-protein 181
quick-cooking 180
sugar 184
sweet 184, 188
syrup 184
tannin-free 179
vegetable 178
vitamin-A 178
white 309
soups 221, 245
sour porridges 316
millet 300
sorghum 300
sourdough 100, 300, 316
soy sauce 300, 316
spelt 240
starch 130
steamed breads 189
stews 221
sugar 125, 130
brown 118, 298
sorghums 184
sugarcane 184
sugar beet 184
sweet beverages 262
corn (maize) 117
sorghum 184, 188
sweet-stalk pearl millet 125
sweetmeats 267
syrup sorghums 184
tala 249
tannin-free sorghums 179
tchapalo 64
téhik 261
tef 215
toh 81, 100, 146, 155, 157
tortilla 218
ugali 146, 155
ugi 317
uji 146, 155
vegetable sorghum 178
vitamin-A sorghum 178
waffles 221
weaning food 55, 81, 312, 317
white sorghum 309
wild grains 251
wusu-wusu 64
yogurt 300
INDEX OF FOODS 368
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Index Of Plants
ahish 224
aburo 72
Acacia albida 109
acha 10, 59, 72
afezu 261
afio-warun 72
African millet 55
African rice 7, 17, 32, 252
aja 239
amabele 88
amale 55
amaranth 283
Amaranthus caudatus 283
antelope grass 267
Aristida pungens 260
ater 224
Avena abyssinica (see also Ethiopian oats)
14, 248
A. barbata 249
A. sativa 249
A. vaviloviana 249
Azadirachta indica (see also neem) 279
Baga-malé 32
bajra 77, 82, 88
bakela 224
barankiya 55
barley 14, 49, 218, 243
irregular 14
beans 209
faba 224
lima 209
winged 209
bicolor type (sorghum) 191
bird-resistant sorghum 180
black fonio 60, 68, 72, 74
Bothriochloa 170
bourgou 259, 264, 266
Brachiaria species 259
B. brizantha 259
B. deflexa (see also guinea millet) 14, 67,
237
B. stigmatisata 237
bread grass 259
broomcorn 186, 209
bubele 88
buckwheat 218
buffel grass 121, 170, 266
bule 55
bulo 55
bulrush millet 77, 88
bultuk 88
candle millet 88
Capillipedium 193
cattail millet 88
caudatum type (sorghum) 131, 191, 165
Cenchrus biflorus 258, 262
C. catharticus 262
C. ciliaris 121, 170, 266
C. leptacanthus 266
C. prieurii 266
ceyut 55
chevral 262
chicken corn 138, 186
chidzanjala 232
chimanganga 232
cholam 138
Chrysopogon 191, 193
commercial pearl millet 111
coracan 55
cowpea 109
Crotolaria species 278
crowfoot grasses 267
Dactyloctenium species 267
D. aegyptium (see also Egyptian grass)
258, 267
dagusa 88
dagussa 55
desert panic grass 258
Dichanthium 170
Digitaria species 70
D. decumbens 69
D. exilis (see also fonio) 10, 59, 60, 72, 237
D. ihburua (see also acha) 10, 59, 60, 72,
74
D. nigeria 63
dogtooth grass 259
drinn 260
duhun 88
dukhon 88
durra 131, 138, 141
durum 239
dyes, sorghum 212
eboniaye 72
Echinochloa species 259
E. colona 258, 267
E. pyramidalis 267
E. stagnina 259, 266
efoleb 72
Egyptian grass 258, 259, 267, 269, 270
einkorn 239, 240
eleusine cultivée 55
Eleusine species 54
E. africana 56
E. coracana (see also finger millet) 39, 55,
10
E. indica 56
emmer 14, 239, 241, 242
Eragrostis species (see also tef and loveg-
rass)
234
E. abyssinica 232
E. ciliaris 271
E. currvula 220, 231, 232
E. gangetica 271
E. hispida 234
E. invalida 234
E. nindensis 234
E. paradoxa 234
E. pilosa 233, 258, 272
E. tef (see also tef) 11, 215, 232
E. tremula 272
erisi 32
Ethiopian oats 14, 248
INDEX OF PLANTS 369
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faba bean 224
Fagopyrum esculentum (buckwheat) 218
fani 72
feni 72
fenugreek 224
feterita 138, 138, 138
findi 72
findo 72
finger millet 10, 39, 55, 252, 288, 299
Fingerhirse 55
fini 72
floating rice 21
foinye 72
foni 72
fonio 10, 59, 72, 237, 252, 298
fonio ga 72
fonyo 72
foundé 72
founié 72
fundenyo 72
fundi 72
fundi millet 72
galiang sorghums 209
gaouri 88
gawri 88
gewone bruin 232
Giza sorghum 196
glaberrima rice 32
grains, wild 15
grasses
antelope
267
bread 259
buffel 121, 170, 266
crowfoot 267
dogtooth 259
Egyptian 258, 259, 267, 269, 270
johnson 193
lovegrass (see also lovegrass) 220
manna 259
napier 124, 275
pangola 69
sudan 138, 186, 193, 201, 202, 213
vetiver 106, 191, 275, 280, 281
great millet 138
great rice 32
groundnut 109
guinea corn 138, 138, 177, 186
guinea millet 14, 67, 237
guinea type (sorghum) 131
guinea sorghum 184, 185
hatchi 88
hegni 88
Hordeum irregulare 14
H. vulgare (see also barley) 243
hungry koos 72
hungry millet 72
hungry rice 59, 72
iburu 72
ipoga 72
irregular barley 14
isansa 88
ishiban 258
Issa-mo 32
jawa 138
johnsongrass 193
jola 138
jowar 141, 177
kafir corn 138, 177
kafir type (sorghum) 191, 165, 131
kambale 55
kaoliang 138
kaoliang 177, 188
kapelembe 88
karamaka 183
karengia 262
karindja 262
Kashi 256
kebelei 32
khaktwe 55
kiwicha 283
koddo 55
kodo millet 249
Kono 32
koos, hungry 72
koracan 55, 55
kpendo 72
kram-kram 257, 258, 262, 270
kreb 256, 261
Latipes senegalensis 271
lentils 224
lima beans 209
lipoko 55
long-seed millet 259
loul 260
lovegrass 220
weeping 220, 231
williams 232
lupodo 55
lupoko 55
machewere 88
macroptilium 208, 109
mahangu 108
maicillo 177
criollos 166
enanos 166
mejorados 166
majolothi 55
mala 24, 32
malé 32
malesi 55
manna grass 259
marchukeb 181
margaritifera type (sorghum) 184
massango 88
matolo-a-maholo 259
mawe 55
macwele 55, 88
mawere 55
mazhovole 55
mba 29, 32
mbege 55
mbei 32
merkba 261
mhunga 88
mhungu 88
mi/mawele 88
mil 88
mil du Soudan 88
INDEX OF PLANTS 370
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mil éthiopien 232
millet 288
African 55
bulrush 77, 88
candle 88
cattail 88
finger 10, 39, 55, 252, 288, 299
fundi 72
great 138, 138
guinea 14, 67, 237
hungry 72
kodo 249
long-seed 259
pearl 10, 15, 57, 77, 88, 252, 298, 302
shama 258, 258, 267, 268
milo 138, 177
mou-bér 32
mpyoli 88
mtama 138
mugimbi 55
mulimbi 55
muzundi 88
mwere 88
mwimbi 55
napier grass 124, 275
ndzungula 232
neem 153, 279, 295
njera 55
ntweka 88
nyalothi 88
nyauti 88
nyò 88
oats 14, 249
Ethiopian 14, 248
Oryza species 17
O. barthii 32, 36, 37, 271
O. breviligulata 36, 258
O. glaberrima (see also African rice) 7,
17, 32
O. longistaminata 37, 271
O. punctata 271
O. sativa (see also rice) 17
O. stapfii 36
other cultivated grains 237
ova 72
pa 29, 32
pangola grass 69
panicgrass, desert 258
Panicum species 259, 260
P. anabaptistum 262
P. burgii 262
P. exile 72
P. laetum 258, 261
P. miliaceum 260
P. stagninum 262
P. subalbidum 259
P. turgidum 261
wild 261
Parasorghum 191
Paspalum exile 72
P. scrobiculatum 249
peanut 109
pearl millet 10, 15, 57, 77, 88, 252, 298, 302
commercial types 111
subsistence types 93
sweet-stalk 125
peas 209, 224
pende 24, 72
Pennisetum species 91, 122, 123
P. americanum 77, 88
P. apomictic types 123
P. faccidim 121
P. gambiense 117
P. glaucum (see also pearl millet) 10, 77,
121
P. g. ssp. monodii 121
P. g. ssp. stenostachyum 121
P. g. var. globosum 117
P. hybrids 121
P. orientale 121
P. purpureum 121, 124
P. setaceum 121
P. spicatum 89
P. squamulatum 121, 123
P. typhoides 77
petit mil 55, 72
petite mil 88
Poa abyssinica 232
podgi 72
pohin 72
poho 55
pom 72
pounié 72
Pseudosorghum 191
ragi 52, 55
rapoko 55
red sorghum 212
rice 17
floating 21
glaberrima 32
great 32
river 32
wadi 270
wild 23, 258, 271
river rice 32
riz africain 32
riz des Baga 32
riz flottant 32
riz kobé 26
riz pluvial africain 32
Rottboellia 259
rukweza 55
Saccharomyces cerevisiae 199
Sahelian sandbur 262
sandbur, Sahelian 262
sanyò 88
sereme 72
Setaria sphacelata 272
shallu 138
shallu sorghum 138, 184
shama millet 258, 258, 267, 268
shawya sorghum 211
shibras 91
songhai tomo 26
sorgho 177
sorghos 182
sorghum 11, 15, 127, 138, 218, 252, 288,
298, 299, 302, 305, 309
INDEX OF PLANTS 371
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bicolor type 191
bird-resistant 180
caudatum type 131, 165, 191
commercial types 159
fuel types 195
galiang 209
Giza 196
guinea type 131
kafir type 131, 165, 191
margaritifera type 184
red 212
shawya 211
specialty types 177
subsistence types 145
sweet 186
sweet-stalk 198
utility types 195
wild 254
Sorghum arundinaceum 142
S. arundinaceum 177, 191
S. bicolor (see also sorghum) 11, 138,
142, 177
S. h. ssp. sudanense (see also sudangrass)
193
S. caffrorum 138, 177
S. caudatum 138, 177
S. cernuum 138
S. conspicuum 177
S. dochna 138, 177
S. drummondii 138
S. durra 138, 177
S. guineense 138
S. halepense 193
S. nervosum 138
S. nigricans 138
S. propinquum 140
S. roxburghii 138
S. subglabrescens 138
S. verticiliflorum 191
S. vulgare 138, 177
sorghum dye 212
sorgo 138
spelt 240
Sporobolus fimbriatis 259
squash 209
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum 259
striga 148, 154, 170, 247, 276
Striga asiatica 148
S. hermonthica 149, 276
S. indica 276
Stylosanthes 109
sudangrass 138, 186, 193, 201, 202, 213
sugarcane 127, 138, 198
sweet sorghum 186
sweet-stalk pearl millet 125
sweet-stalk sorghum 198
Syntherisma exilis 72
S. iburua 72
t'ef 232
taf 232
tafe-e 232
tafi 232
tahf 232
tailabon 55, 55
tef 11, 15, 215, 232, 298
wild 258
tef ou bruin 232
teff 232
thaf hagaiz 233
Themeda triandra 271
tokuso 55
toulloult 260
Tribulus terrestris 258
triticale 308
Triticum dicoccum (see also emmer) 14, 239
T. monococcum 239, 240
T. spelta 240
T. turgidum 239
u/inywuthi 88
uchewele 88, 88
ulezi 55
unyaluthi 88
unyawothi 88
unyawoti 88
uphoko 55
Urochloa 259
U. mosambicensis 271
U. trichopus 271
usanje 55
uwele 88
uzak 262
vetiver grass 106, 275, 280
Vetiveria (see also vetiver grass) 191
V. nigritana 281
V. zizanioides 106, 281
vieux riz 32
vogel gierst 55
wadi rice 270
waterstraw 267
weeping lovegrass 220, 231
wetet begunche 181
wheat (see also emmer, einkorn, spelt, and
durum)
218, 310
white fonio 60, 72
wild grains 15
Panicum species 261
rice 23, 258, 271
tef 258
grains 251
williams lovegrass 232
wimbi 55
winged bean 209
witchweed (see also striga) 276
wujjeg 262
zviyo 55
INDEX OF PLANTS 372
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The BOSTID Innovation Program
Since its inception in 1970, BOSTID has had a small project to evaluate
innovations that could help the Third World. Formerly known as the Advisory
Committee on Technology Innovation (ACT I), this small program has been
identifying unconventional developments in science and technology that might
help solve specific developing-country problems. In a sense, it acts as an
''innovation scout"—providing information on options that should be tested or
incorporated into activities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
So far, the BOSTID innovation program has published about 40 reports,
covering, among other things, underexploited crops, trees, and animal resources,
as well as energy production and use. Each book is produced by a committee of
scientists and technologists (including both skeptics and proponents), with scores
(often hundreds) of researchers contributing their knowledge and
recommendations through correspondence and meetings.
These reports are aimed at providing reliable and balanced information,
much of it not readily available elsewhere and some of it never before recorded.
In its two decades of existence, this program has distributed more than 500,000
copies of its reports. Among other things, it has introduced to the world grossly
neglected plant species such as jojoba, guayule, leucaena, mangium, amaranth,
and the winged bean.
BOSTID's innovation books, although often quite detailed, are designed to
be easy to read and understand. They are produced in an attractive, eye-catching
format, their text and language carefully crafted to reach a readership that is
uninitiated in the given field. In addition, most are illustrated in a way that helps
readers deduce their message from the pictures and captions, and most have
brief, carefully selected bibliographies, as well as lists of research contacts that
lead readers to further information.
By and large, these books aim to catalyze actions within the Third World,
but they usually also have utility in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other
industrialized nations.
So far, the BOSTID innovation project on underexploited Third-World
resources (Noel Vietmeyer, Director and Scientific Editor) has produced the
following reports.
Ferrocement: Applications in Developing Countries (1973). 104 pp.
Mosquito Control: Perspectives for Developing Countries (1973). 76 pp.
Some Prospects for Aquatic Weed Management in Guyana (1974). 52 pp.
THE BOSTID INNOVATION PROGRAM 373
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Roofing in Developing Countries: Research for New Technologies (1974).
84 pp.
An International Centre for Manatee Research (1974). 38 pp.
More Water for Arid Lands (1974). 165 pp.
Products from Jojoba (1975). 38 pp.
Underexploited Tropical Plants (1975). 199 pp.
The Winged Bean (1975). 51 pp.
Natural Products for Sri Lanka's Future (1975). 53 pp.
Making Aquatic Weeds Useful (1976). 183 pp.
Guayule: An Alternative Source of Natural Rubber (1977). 92 pp.
Aquatic Weed Management: Some Prospects for the Sudan (1976). 57 pp.
Ferrocement: A Versatile Construction Material (1976). 106 pp.
More Water for Arid Lands (French edition, 1977). 164 pp.
Leucaena: Promising Forage and Tree Crop for the Tropics (1977). 123 pp.
Natural Products for Trinidad and the Caribbean (1979). 50 pp.
Tropical Legumes (1979). 342 pp.
Firewood Crops: Shrub and Tree Species for Energy Production (volume 1,
1980). 249 pp.
Water Buffalo: New Prospects for an Underutilized Animal (1981). 126 pp.
Sowing Forests from the Air (1981). 71 pp.
Producer Gas: Another Fuel for Motor Transport (1983). 109 pp.
Producer Gas Bibliography (1983). 50 pp.
The Winged Bean: A High-Protein Crop for the Humid Tropics (1981). 58
pp.
Mangium and Other Fast-Growing Acacias (1983). 72 pp.
Calliandra: A Versatile Tree for the Humid Tropics (1983). 60 pp.
Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea (1983). 42 pp.
Crocodiles as a Resource for the Tropics (1983). 69 pp.
Little-Known Asian Animals With Promising Economic Future (1983). 145
pp.
Firewood Crops: Shrub and Tree Species for Energy Production, Volume 2
(1983). 103 pp.
Casuarinas: Nitrogen-Fixing Trees for Adverse Sites (1984). 128 pp.
Amaranth: Modern Prospects for an Ancient Crop (1984). 90 pp.
Leucaena: Promising Forage and Tree Crop (Second edition, 1984). 110 pp.
Jojoba: A New Crop for Arid Lands (1985). 112 pp.
Quality-Protein Maize (1988). 112 pp.
Triticale: A Promising Addition to the World's Cereal Grains (1989). 113
pp.
THE BOSTID INNOVATION PROGRAM 374
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Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for
Worldwide Cultivation (1989). 427 pp.
Microlivestock: Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising Economic
Future (1991). 468 pp.
Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems (1992). 151 pp.
Vetiver: A Thin Green Line Against Erosion (1993).
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I - Grains (1995).
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 2 - Cultivated Fruits (1995).
Foods of the Future: Tropical Fruits (1995)
THE BOSTID INNOVATION PROGRAM 375
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Board on Science and Technology for
International Development
ALEXANDER SHAKOW, Director, External Affairs, The World Bank,
Washington, D,C,, Chairman
MEMBERS
PATRICIA BARNES-McCONNELL, Director, Bean/Cowpea CRSP, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan*
JORDAN J, BARUCH, President, Jordan Baruch Associates, Washington, D,C,
BARRY BLOOM, Professor, Department of Microbiology, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, Bronx, New York*
JANE BORTNICK, Assistant Chief, Congressional Research Service, Library
of Congress, Washington, D,C,*
GEORGE T, CURLIN, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
DIRK FRANKENBERG, Director, Marine Science Program, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
RALPH HARDY, President, Boyce-Thompson Institute for Plant Research,
Inc,, Ithaca, New York*
FREDERICK HORNE, Dean, College of Sciences, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, Oregon
ELLEN MESSER, Allan Shaw Feinstein World Hunger Program, Brown
University, Providence, Rhode Island*
CHARLES C, MUSCOPLAT, Executive Vice President, MCI Pharma, Inc,,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
JAMES QUINN, Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover,
New Hampshire*
VERNON RUTTAN, Regents Professor, Department of Agriculture and
Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota*
ANTHONY SAN PIETRO, Professor of Plant Biochemistry, Department of
Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana*
ERNEST SMERDON, College of Engineering and Mines, University of
Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
GERALD P, DINEEN, Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Engineering,
Washington, D.C., ex officio
JAMES WYNGAARDEN, Chairman, Office of International Affairs, National
Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., ex officio
BOARD ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 376
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* Members, through 1993.
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BOSTID Publications
BOSTID manages programs with developing countries on behalf of the U.S.
National Research Council. Reports published by BOSTID are sponsored in most
instances by the U.S. Agency for International Development. They are intended
for distribution to readers in developing countries who are affiliated with
governmental, educational, or research institutions, and who have professional
interest in the subject areas treated by the reports.
BOSTID Publications and Information Services (FO-2060Z)
National Research Council
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20418 USA
Energy
33. Alcohol Fuels: Options for Developing Countries. 1983, 128 pp.
Examines the potential for the production and utilization of alcohol fuels in
developing countries. Includes information on various tropical crops and their
conversion to alcohols through both traditional and novel processes. ISBN
0-309-04160-0.
36. Producer Gas: Another Fuel for Motor Transport. 1983, 112 pp.
During World War II Europe and Asia used wood, charcoal, and coal to fuel over a
million gasoline and diesel vehicles. However, the technology has since been
virtually forgotten. This report reviews producer gas and its modern potential.
ISBN 0-309-04161-9.
56. The Diffusion of Biomass Energy Technologies in Developing
Countries. 1984, 120 pp. Examines economic, cultural, and political factors that
affect the introduction of biomass-based energy technologies in developing
countries. It includes information on the opportunities for these technologies as
well as conclusions and recommendations for their application. ISBN
0-309-04253-4.
Technology Options
14. More Water for Arid Lands: Promising Technologies and Research
Opportunities. 1974, 153 pp. Outlines little-known but promising technologies
to supply and conserve water in arid areas. ISBN 0-30904151-1.
34. Priorities in Biotechnology Research for International Development:
Proceedings of a Workshop. 1982, 261 pp. Report of a workshop
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 377
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organized to examine opportunities for biotechnology research in six areas: 1)
vaccines, 2) animal production, 3) monoclonal antibodies, 4) energy, 5)
biological nitrogen fixation, and 6) plant cell and tissue culture. ISBN
0-309-04256-9.
61. Fisheries Technologies for Developing Countries. 1987, 167 pp.
Identifies newer technologies in boat building, fishing gear and methods, coastal
mariculture, artificial reefs and fish aggregating devices, and processing and
preservation of the catch. The emphasis is on practices suitable for artisanal
fisheries. ISBN 0-309-04260-7.
73. Applications of Biotechnology to Traditional Fermented Foods.
1992, 207 pp. Microbial fermentations have been used to produce or preserve
foods and beverages for thousands of years. New techniques in biotechnology
allow better understanding of these transformations so that safer, more nutritious
products can be obtained. This report examines new developments in traditional
fermented foods. ISBN 0309-04685-8.
Plants
47. Amaranth: Modern Prospects for an Ancient Crop. 1983, 81 pp.
Before the time of Cortez, grain amaranths were staple foods of the Aztec and
Inca. Today this nutritious food has a bright future. The report discusses
vegetable amaranths also. ISBN 0-309-04171-6.
53. Jojoba: New Crop for Arid Lands. 1985, 102 pp. In the last 10 years,
the domestication of jojoba, a little-known North American desert shrub, has been
all but completed. This report describes the plant and its promise to provide a
unique vegetable oil and many likely industrial uses. ISBN 0-309-04251-8.
63. Quality-Protein Maize. 1988, 130 pp. Identifies the promise of a
nutritious new form of the planet's third largest food crop. Includes chapters on
the importance of maize, malnutrition and protein quality, experiences with
quality-protein maize (QPM), QPM's potential uses in feed and food, nutritional
qualities, genetics, research needs, and limitations. ISBN 0-309-04262-3.
64. Triticale: A Promising Addition to the World's Cereal Grains. 1988,
105 pp. Outlines the recent transformation of triticale, a hybrid between wheat
and rye, into a food crop with much potential for many marginal lands. The
report discusses triticale's history, nutritional quality,
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 378
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breeding, agronomy, food and feed uses, research needs, and limitations. ISBN
0-309-04263-1.
70. Saline Agriculture: Salt-Tolerant Plants for Developing Countries.
1989, 150 pp. The purpose of this report is to create greater awareness of salt-
tolerant plants and the special needs they may fill in developing countries.
Examples of the production of food, fodder, fuel, and other products are
included. Salt-tolerant plants can use land and water unsuitable for conventional
crops and can harness saline resources that are generally neglected or considered
as impediments to, rather than opportunities for, development. ISBN
0-309-04266-6.
74. Vetiver Grass: A Thin Green Line Against Erosion. 1992, 000 pp.
Vetiver is a little-known grass that seems to offer a practical solution for
controlling soil loss. Hedges of this deeply rooted species catch and hold back
sediments. The stiff foliage acts as a filter that also slows runoff and keeps
moisture on site, allowing crops to thrive when neighboring ones are desiccated.
In numerous tropical locations, vetiver hedges have restrained erodible soils for
decades and the grasswhich is pantropicalhas shown little evidence of
weediness. ISBN 0-309-04269-0.
77. Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 1, Grains. (1995) Many people predict
that Africa in the near future will not be able to feed its projected population.
What is being overlooked, however, is that Africa has more than 2,000 native
food plants, few of which are receiving research or recognition. This book
describes the potentials of finger millet, fonio, pearl millet, sorghum, tef, and
other cereal grains that are native to Africa.
Innovations in Tropical Forestry
35. Sowing Forests from the Air. 1981, 64 pp. Describes experiences with
establishing forests by sowing tree seed from aircraft. Suggests testing and
development of the techniques for possible use where forest destruction now
outpaces reforestation. ISBN 0-309-04257-7.
41. Mangium and Other Fast-Growing Acacias for the Humid
Tropics. 1983, 63 pp. Highlights 10 acacia species that are native to the tropical
rain forest of Australasia. That they could become valuable forestry resources
elsewhere is suggested by the exceptional performance of Acacia mangium in
Malaysia. ISBN 0-309-04165-1.
42. Calliandra: A Versatile Small Tree for the Humid Tropics. 1983, 56
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 379
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pp. This Latin American shrub is being widely planted by villagers and
government agencies in Indonesia to provide firewood, prevent erosion, provide
honey, and feed livestock. ISBN 0-309-04166-X.
43. Casuarinas: Nitrogen-Fixing Trees for Adverse Sites. 1983, 118 pp.
These robust, nitrogen-fixing, Australasian trees could become valuable
resources for planting on harsh eroding land to provide fuel and other products.
Eighteen species for tropical lowlands and highlands, temperate zones, and
semiarid regions are highlighted. ISBN 0-309-04167-8.
52. Leucaena: Promising Forage and Tree Crop for the Tropics. 1984
(2
nd
edition), 100 pp. Describes a multipurpose tree crop of potential value for
much of the humid lowland tropics. Leucaena is one of the fastest growing and
most useful trees for the tropics. ISBN 0-309-04250-X.
71. Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems. 1992, 151 pp. The neem
tree is potentially one of the most valuable of all trees. It shows promise for pest
control, reforestation, and improving human health. Safe and effective pesticides
can be produced from seeds. Neem can grow in arid and humid tropics and is a
fast-growing source offuelwood. ISBN 0-309-04686-6.
Managing Tropical Animal Resources
32. The Water Buffalo: New Prospects for an Underutilized Animal.
1981, 188 pp. The water buffalo is performing notably well in recent trials in such
unexpected places as the United States, Australia, and Brazil. Report discusses
the animal's promise, particularly emphasizing its potential for use outside Asia.
ISBN 0-309-04159-7.
44. Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea. 1983, 36 pp. Indigenous
butterflies are being reared in Papua New Guinea villages in a formal
government program that both provides a cash income in remote rural areas and
contributes to the conservation of wildlife and tropical forests. ISBN
0-309-04168-6.
45. Crocodiles as a Resource for the Tropics. 1983, 60 pp. In most parts
of the tropics, crocodilian populations are being decimated, but programs in
Papua New Guinea and a few other countries demonstrate that, with care, the
animals can be raised for profit while protecting the wild populations. ISBN
0-309-04169-4.
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 380
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46. Little-Known Asian Animals with a Promising Economic Future.
1983, 133 pp. Describes banteng, madura, mithan, yak, kouprey, babirusa, javan
warty pig, and other obscure but possibly globally useful wild and domesticated
animals that are indigenous to Asia. ISBN 0-309-04170-8.
68. Microlivestock: Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising
Economic Future. 1990, 449 pp. Discusses the promise of small breeds and
species of livestock for Third World villages. Identifies more than 40 species,
including miniature breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs; eight types of
poultry; rabbits; guinea pigs and other rodents; dwarf deer and antelope; iguanas;
and bees. ISBN 0-309-04265-8.
Health
49. Opportunities for the Control of Dracunculiasis. 1983, 65 pp.
Dracunculiasis is a parasitic disease that temporarily disables many people in
remote, rural areas in Africa, India, and the Middle East. Contains the findings
and recommendations of distinguished scientists who were brought together to
discuss dracunculiasis as an international health problem. ISBN 0-309-04172-4.
55. Manpower Needs and Career Opportunities in the Field Aspects of
Vector Biology. 1983, 53 pp. Recommends ways to develop and train the
manpower necessary to ensure that experts will be available in the future to
understand the complex ecological relationships of vectors with human hosts and
pathogens that cause such diseases as malaria, dengue fever, filariasis, and
schistosomiasis. ISBN 0-309-04252-6.
60. U.S. Capacity to Address Tropical Infectious Diseases. 1987, 225 pp.
Addresses U.S. manpower and institutional capabilities in both the public and
private sectors to address tropical infectious disease problems. ISBN
0-309-04259-3.
Resource Management
50. Environmental Change in the West African Sahel. 1984, 96 pp.
Identifies measures to help restore critical ecological processes and thereby
increase sustainable production in dryland farming, irrigated agriculture, forestry
and fuelwood, and animal husbandry. Provides baseline information for the
formulation of environmentally sound projects. ISBN 0-309-04173-2.
51. Agroforestry in the West African Sahel. 1984, 86 pp. Provides
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 381
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development planners with information regarding traditional agroforestry
systemstheir relevance to the modern Sahel, their design, social and
institutional considerations, problems encountered in the practice of agroforestry,
and criteria for the selection of appropriate plant species to be used. ISBN
0-309-04174-0.
72. Conserving Biodiversity: A Research Agenda for Development
Agencies. 1992, 127 pp. Reviews the threat of loss of biodiversity and its
context within the development process and suggests an agenda for development
agencies. ISBN 0-309-04683-1.
Forthcoming Books from BOSTID
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 2, Cultivated Fruits. (1996) This report
details the underexploited promise of about a dozen native African fruits.
Included are such species as baobab, butter fruit, horned melon, marula, and
watermelon.
Foods of the Future: Volume 1, Promising Tropical Fruits. (1996) Of the
more than 3,000 edible tropical fruits, only fourbanana, pineapple, mango, and
papayaare major resources. This report will describe many more that could
have significance for increasing worldwide food supplies, improving nutrition,
adding new flavors to world cuisine, and boosting economic advancement.
BOSTID PUBLICATIONS 382
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ART CREDITS
Page
Duncan Vaughan, courtesy International Rice Research Institute,
Los Baños, the Philippines
16, 37
E. Westphal 57
Folu M. Dania Gobe 75
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census 160
James Bruce (this drawing appears in the famous explorer's report
of his historic penetration of Ethiopia in 1770)
214
Taylor Horst 219
Glenn Oakley (Photograph shows Wayne Carlson) 229
Victor Englebert 286
Drawings on pages 38, 144, 158, 236, and 250 are by Sara Joelle Hall and
are reproduced (with permission) from Food from the Veld by F.W. Fox and
M.E. Norwood Young, Delta Books (Pty) Ltd., South Africa.
Drawings on pages 143, 157, 175, 193, and 212 are by Vantage Art, Inc.,
and are reproduced (with permission) from the Fieldbook of Natural History,
Second Edition. E. Laurence Palmer and H. Seymour Fowler. Copyright 1975
by McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Cover Design by David Bennett
ART CREDITS 383
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